No Retribution
by MadXHatterX94
Summary: The dead are walking. The living prey on the weak. Thea Ellis's life, like everyone else's, has been turned upside down. The hard part is coping with this new world and the reality that people are not who they used to be. Thea is not who she used to be, and she can't decide if that's a good thing or not. "You don't get to come back from the things you do." (Eventual Daryl/OC)
1. Run-In With Fate

Hey everyone, I really hope you all enjoy this story. I'll do my best to update as much as possible and keep things entertaining and interesting. Let me know what you think about this first chapter, constructive criticism is very much welcomed!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own anything other than my OC, Thea Ellis, and her storyline. The rights to The Walking Dead remain solely with Robert Kirkman and Co.

There weren't a lot of things left in the world these days that made comfort come easily, not like before the end. Part of losing everything that was once so simple and taken for granted was that it made it obvious that something had been taken away that should never have been. Trying to grasp some sort of normalcy in the chaotic version of reality that the world had become seemed like trying to successfully catch a handful of smoke; pointless and a waste of time.

Thea was no stranger to loss prior to the end of the world, but that didn't exactly make it easy to take in the fact that the dead had suddenly come back to gnaw at the flesh of the living. No, loss wasn't something that would ever come easy and if it ever did then that was when there was a serious problem.

She wasn't sure exactly how long it had been since the turn, or how many of those walking the earth were still alive and breathing, but she was well aware of the fact that things would never be the same even if there ended up being some miraculous cure and the world was saved. There was no coming back from this.

One of the strangest things about this new world was the lack of rules. In the old days the fact that she was standing in a dimly lit pharmacy shoving prescriptions into her pack would have landed her in some serious hot water, but now it was perfectly normal and to be expected. So normal, in fact, that she had been more than a little surprised to find that the shelves behind the pharmacist's counter were still fully stocked.

It wasn't like she was complaining.

Thea had just shoved a large pill bottle containing antibiotics into the rapidly filling front pocket of her blue backpack when she heard the squeak of shoes on the tile floor near the front of the store. She froze for just a moment to listen but only found silence; maybe she had been imagining things.

Just as she began to reach for another bottle a hushed sound came from the same direction. Slowly zipping her bag closed to keep the noise from alerting whoever, or whatever, was now in the store with her, she reached down to grab the red axe she had propped up against shelf and slipped the pack back onto her back and secured the clip across her torso.

Thea turned and made her way towards the back door she had noticed earlier, always a good idea to know your exits, to make a quick getaway. Sure she could handle one dead guy but if it wasn't necessary she did her best to avoid any and all contact with any of the infected. That's what she called them at first, the infected, because that's what they were. Now however? Dead was not the same as sick and she didn't have a name for them.

As she moved between shelves she heard a dull thud in the wall above her head. Her eyes followed the noise and she stifled a gasp at the arrow that was now sunk into the drywall just inches from where her head had just been.

So it wasn't a dead one, but she had come to find that the living were often more dangerous these days. She needed to leave _now._

She ducked low as she moved quickly towards the door, the grip on the handle of her axe tightening in preparation; if she had to defend herself she would, it wouldn't be the first time.

She was at the door when she heard a muttered curse, glanced back to see a dark figure pull the arrow from the wall, and then shoved the door open and ran out into the alleyway which was thankfully dead guy free.

It wasn't empty however, and she had to skid to a halt to avoid running headfirst into a large black man holding a crowbar. He was standing at the closest end of the alley and upon seeing her his eyes widened.

"Hey!" he called as she turned to escape down the opposite side of the alleyway.

Thea jumped to the side as she passed by the door she'd just exited. It flung open to reveal a man with dark hair and a crossbow, but she didn't pause to study him fully. Instead she took off at full speed, knocking several boxes down to block their path should they attempt to follow her.

"Get back here!"

Not bothering to turn to see which of the men was the one to shout at her she rounds the corner leading out into the street and pauses for just a second to check that the coast is clear. When she's sure there aren't any more threats nearby she chooses to circle the store to go back to the side she'd left the bicycle she'd stolen.

Looking back she would realize how that was not a smart move.

As she passed by the front door of the shop she'd just vacated she felt a body slam into hers from the side. She landed on the pavement hard, a loud grunt escaping her lips as her side slammed into the metal pole holding up a parking meter and her axe skidded across the sidewalk out of reach. There was someone on her back holding her down but they didn't seem to have much strength, so she threw an elbow back to get them off.

It connected with the hard bone of the man's jaw and he let out a cry of pain, his grip loosening just enough for Thea to crawl towards her axe. Just as her hand grasped the handle, a boot stepped forward onto the head to prevent her from lifting the weapon and the silver blade of a sword came down to point in her face; a warning.

"Get up slowly," a woman spoke, her voice deep and serious as if the sword wasn't threatening enough.

If she hadn't been before, Thea knew for sure she was screwed now. She released her grip on the axe handle and lifted herself onto her hands and knees at a slow pace, her head remained bowed and her eyes locked on the sharp steel pointed at her nose. She put her hands up first, palms out, and then rose to her feet.

Her eyes were the last to finally lift from where she had been staring at several specks of blood on end of the woman's sword, and she found the owner of the weapon to be a tough looking black woman with long dreadlocks and a steady glare directed right at her. Was this her executioner? Was this the one who would end it all for her after so long of fighting to stay alive?

To her left stood a younger looking guy with sandy blonde curls and an anxious look on his face as if he wasn't sure what they would be doing with her, his eyes flickered towards the dark skinned woman several times before landing on Thea expectantly.

"Who are you?" The woman asked as footfalls indicated the two men from the alley and the store now approached.

Thea didn't respond, her eyes flickering down to her axe as if she might have a shot at grabbing it. Her hand twitched at her side and she wondered if she would have enough time to pull her knife from its sheath or if the woman would slice her head off before she even got the strap unsnapped.

The question was repeated, the sword inched closer, the air closed around her like a cocoon she couldn't escape. It had been so long since she had seen another living person and now there were four of them ganging up on her…

She felt the air leave her lungs in short gasps and her feet moved backwards against her will. She stepped off the curb onto the street and stumbled back against a car, the sun now directly in her eyes; a hand she realized was her own rose to block it and she could see the sword lower to the woman's side slowly.

"You okay?" a male voice asked.

It was the black man from the alley and when she peered through her fingers at him she saw that he had genuine concern on his face, which confused her. Weren't they going to kill her or steal her things and leave her helpless?

The sun had been setting before and now seemed to disappear in seconds behind the store and then she could see them all clearly. Her breathing was normal once again, as if that one simple question had calmed her completely. She took in a deep gulp of air and then locked eyes with the woman, who had once again asked for her name.

"Thea," she responded evenly, her voice thankfully not betraying the nerves she felt. "Thea Ellis."

The blonde man pointed to himself and then the others, giving out their names like it was free candy. "I'm Zach. This is Tyreese, Daryl, and Michonne."

Thea glanced at the others slowly but her eyes ended up on Michonne again, that sword still gripped tightly in the woman's hand.

"You alone?"

The question sparked a small amount of fear in her heart; did she answer truthfully and allow them to have the freedom to attack her or did she lie and say others would be waiting for her? Did she miss out on the opportunity of possibly joining a group where there was safety in numbers if she lied? Would they kill her if she was alone?

"Yes," she finally answered when she decided she would rather die an honest woman than live alone as a liar.

Michonne shared a glance with Daryl, the man who had shot an arrow at Thea's head, and the man nodded before the woman spoke again, asking another question as if that was all she knew how to do.

"How many walkers have you killed?"

Thea cocked her head curiously. "Walkers?"

A snort came from Zach. "Geeks, biters, dead bastards…whatever else anyone calls them." He explained.

The question was odd, but she could play along. "I haven't kept count. Just the ones I couldn't get away from."

Michonne tightened her grip on the katana and raised the blade just slightly before speaking again.

"How many people have you killed?" she wondered, her gaze hardened as she tried to assess Thea for anything that might indicate she was about to lie.

The other woman gulped, her eyes found the sword momentarily. "Two. Just two." She admitted.

"Why?" Daryl asked suddenly, the first time he had spoken the entire time.

Thea found she couldn't meet his hard eyes as she spoke. "They were bitten. I didn't want them to suffer and they didn't want to be one of those…things."

She bowed her head and waited for them to decide that she was a murderer who deserved to be left behind. A killer who needed to be punished. Something along those lines.

In the end, they didn't come to either of those conclusions and the one they did arrive upon surprised her.

"We have a safe place. You can come with us if you'd like." Michonne said softly, replacing her katana in its sheath slowly and expertly. "It's safer than being alone."

Thea met the other woman's eyes hoping to spot some sort of lie that would tell her that the safe haven they offered was really some sort of trap, but she couldn't find any sort of malice there and she knew that this was the only chance she would have of really surviving this whole thing. Of course she would join them, but how long would she be able to stay before things went south? How safe was this place really?

She would have to find out, if she died in the process then perhaps that was better than any other fate she might have to face on her own. Maybe things were looking up for her. Maybe they weren't.


	2. Settling In

**Alright everyone, here is chapter two! I just wanted to thank everyone who followed and faved this story! And those who reviewed thank you for taking the time to tell me what you thought! Hopefully this chapter isn't too boring to you all, I struggled a bit with the introduction to the group because I didn't want it to be too slow or too much of a snooze fest.**

 **I know that this chapter is slower, but I felt it was necessary to have a little bit of Thea settling in at the prison before I jumped into any drama or anything too serious. Enjoy the chapter and please review!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and CO.**

* * *

Before the world had decided to end Thea had been living a great life; sure there had been some struggles but that was to be expected. Someone once told her that if she wasn't suffering for her dreams then she hadn't chosen the right path and that was something she had taken to heart.

She wasn't exactly from a normal 'all-American' background, especially considering she was born and raised in England. She'd lived there for sixteen years before her parents had decided to relocate the family to the states, West Virginia to be exact, and that had gone over about as well as one could expect a teenaged girl being moved across the ocean could go.

She remembered her parents telling her that this was better, that the new job her father had taken was worth uprooting their lives; she hadn't believed them at the time of course. Once she had gone on to a prestigious medical school and then done her surgical internship at one of the best hospitals on the east coast she could see clearly what her parents meant.

Thea had been visiting her little sister in Georgia when the world had gone to shit. Catherine was always the more adventurous of the two Ellis sisters and after graduating high school ended up following her then boyfriend to the state. He had been accepted to Georgia Tech and Cat hadn't even applied anywhere; she was the carefree one after all.

Kyle Miller and Catherine Ellis married after his first semester of college and six months later little Henry Miller was born, but Thea could tell they were happy and Kyle treated her sister right so that was all that mattered to her. Cathy always was the one to live life to its fullest.

* * *

"Hank, slow down, okay?" Cat called out to the wayward toddler as he barreled towards the pond with a bag full of scraps of bread clutched tightly in one tiny hand.

Thea grinned as she watched him merely glance back at his mother in response, his pace remained the same. They were on the Georgia Tech campus waiting for Kyle to get done with a test so they could go out somewhere and celebrate the end of Thea's internship, passing her boards, and the beginning of her residency.

Cat snorted in a very unladylike manner and stuffed her iPhone into her back pocket. "He doesn't listen very well. I think he gets that from his Aunt Thea." She teased and bumped her shoulder against the older woman's.

"Yeah, that's accurate." She replied sarcastically, her eyes turning pointedly towards her sister who was in fact the only Ellis sibling to cause their parents extreme grief and worry; adventurous and wild Cathy Ellis.

The younger of the two laughed lightly and nodded in agreement, fully aware of the truth. Catherine was wise beyond her years, another reason Thea had been so surprised when she found out that college was not something in the blonde girl's sights.

They stopped beside the pond and watched Hank throw chunks of bread crust at the ducks. He reared his arm back and thrust it forward forcefully but the crusts never went further than a few feet in front of him. It made Thea laugh.

"Now that you've finished your internship, you think you'll be popping out some of your own little brats soon?" Catherine wondered, her accent even fainter than any other member of the family since she had spent more of her life in America than England.

It was Thea's turn to snort and she stuffed her hands in the pockets of her jacket and shook her head. "God no. You think I have time for children now? There's no way in hell I would try and _rear_ a child while in the beginning of a surgical residency; I'm not mental."

Cat cut her eyes at her sister and shook her head again. "At this rate you'll be forty before you have children." She muttered. "Hank will be so much older than his cousins!"

Thea was about to respond to that, tell her that if Henry ended up being _that_ much older than her own children then he could just babysit, when a piercing scream erupted from across the grassy hill that students used as a place to hang or study. She whipped her head around to see what was going on and spotted it, a young girl writhing in pain as another student ripped into her shoulder from behind _with his teeth_. Blood sprayed from the wound as flesh tore from muscle and bone, the girl's screams became horrific as a second girl attached her teeth to a flailing arm.

"Oh god," Cathy gasped, hands lifted to cover her mouth as they watched a young college student be eaten alive.

Thea grabbed her sister's shoulder and shoved her towards the pond, her eyes never left the horrific scene before her. "Quick, grab Hank. We need to go now."

* * *

"You getting all settled in?" Tyreese's voice interrupted her memory as he came to stand in the open doorway of the cell that had been deemed hers.

The 'safe place' the group that had recruited her mentioned just happened to be a very large prison. It was kind of perfect in that it was relatively off the grid and surrounded by tall chain-link fences, the outer ring of which had barbed wire across the top. Thea found it comical, to say the least, that civilians would find themselves running into a prison to find safety and survival.

She wondered if any of the inhabitants had been locked up here before the turn.

Turning to face the large man blocking the light from the windows, Thea stood from the bottom bunk with a nod. "Yeah, it's great, thank you." She replied hesitantly, glancing around at the monochromatic color scheme and the metal sink/toilet combination in the corner.

Tyreese seemed to notice the look on her face and chuckled softly.

"It takes some getting used to, I know. Hard to believe this is actually what we call home now." He was quick to comment, clearly trying to make her feel better about not being sure about her new 'room'.

She faced him again and smiled, more than grateful that he didn't think she was being picky about the living situations after being rescued. This was technically the best set up she had been in since before she could remember; she'd been shacking up in vehicles, attics, and gas station bathrooms for a while now as she had gone from place to place. This was definitely an improvement by far.

"I just came to tell you that dinner is ready if you want to join us outside."

And then he was gone, giving her space should she decide that she didn't want to eat with the group after all. But it wasn't like she could say no, they had taken her in graciously and given her a bed of her own and now they were going to feed her. If she said no to that it could possibly result in banishment…right?

She quickly decided that the notion was a bit ridiculous, but she still felt she needed to try and meet some more people at dinner and talk to those she already knew. She had met Carol, an older woman with a kind smile and short, gray hair; Karen a beautiful brunette who was obviously very in love with Tyreese; Glenn and Maggie who were married and absolutely adorable with each other as well as very welcoming to her; and then Herschel, Maggie's father who had welcomed Thea with kind words and apparently lost his leg to a walker bite.

'Walker', that's what this group called the dead ones. She figured that was much better than literally calling them 'the dead ones' or 'the infected', and she may just adopt the term during her time here.

The cell they had given her was up the stairs and all the way in the far corner of Cell Block C so it wasn't that far of a walk out to the courtyard where most everyone had gathered to eat. Earlier Karen had shown her to the bathrooms where they had set up some sort of irrigation system with troughs and hoses. They had actually managed to make working showers and it didn't matter that they only had cold water, Thea had been washing in either streams or when things were bad with just a few drops of water on some cloth. She'd taken a much needed shower and felt a thousand times better, meeting new people wouldn't be so bad now that she was smelling fresh and her hair was no longer a greasy mess matted to her head and neck.

When she had collected a bowl of rice with what looked to be some sort of meat she realized that this was basically like her first day of school in America all over again; everyone was seated and stories were being exchanged, she didn't know where to sit or if she should just go back to her cell to eat. It felt incredibly awkward standing there where Carol was dishing out food with her eyes wandering the area for somewhere to put herself out of the way.

She finally spotted an empty spot on one of the steel bleachers that was set up facing what used to be a basketball court for the inmates. Everyone else had mostly gathered around one end of the metal seating and were chatting while others were sitting at the tables beneath the awning by Carol.

Thea kept her head down and made her way to the spot she'd picked but only got about halfway there when she heard Glenn call her name. She lifted her head to find him waving her over to where he sat with Maggie, Tyreese, Karen, and a man she hadn't met yet. He was holding a baby on his lap and beside him sat a young boy wearing a wide brimmed hat who she had seen earlier when they arrived.

She glanced towards the empty bleachers again and wondered if she could just ignore him and go over there, but ultimately figured that wouldn't be taken well with the group and so she turned to join the others at their table.

Glenn moved to sit beside Tyreese which left her to sit beside Maggie in his now empty seat. She smiled politely, or rather awkwardly, at the group and slid onto the bench.

"This is Thea. Michonne and the others brought her back with them." Glenn spoke up, his eyes on the man with the baby.

The man gave her a polite smile and nodded. "It's nice to meet you, Thea, I'm Rick. These are my children Judith and Carl." He informed her in a tired voice.

He looked like he had been doing something with dirt all day, possibly working in the small garden she had seen when the group had arrived at the prison. He was handsome nonetheless, the grime somehow adding something extra to his appearance rather than taking away.

"Michonne said they found you in the pharmacy?" Rick's asked, which drew all eyes to her for confirmation.

Thea nodded once and glanced down at the bowl in front of her for a second before responding. "Supply run," she explained. "I usually avoid going into town if I can help it."

Glenn jumped in to ask where she had been camping out, his mouth still full of rice and meat as he spoke.

Thea paused for a moment as she thought about whether or not she should tell them. If the prison didn't work out she might want to circle back to her hideout and if they knew about it then it could come back to haunt her. Then again maybe it was just plain paranoia that had her sitting on the edge of her seat, literally.

"Um…I moved around a lot. I was holed up in a deer blind just outside of the town but it didn't really offer much shelter from the elements so I figured it was just about time to move on." She finally admitted, if she needed she would just have to find somewhere else to hunker down.

Hopefully she would be able to stay here for a while, but there was no way of knowing how these people would be. Sure they had children and elderly here, but it had been her experience that this new world changed people and the way they thought.

"Where are you from?" Carl asked suddenly, scrunching up his little nose at her in confusion; he had more than likely registered the remnants of her accent now that she had spoken more. He had good hearing…most people didn't notice it until after she mentioned home.

She looked at him with surprise before responding. "England. Ascot, Berkshire to be exact. We moved to the states when I was sixteen."

Carl seemed content with that answer and went back to stuffing his face with rice while the others made sounds of interest.

"That must have been quite the culture shock," Karen commented from her seat between Carl and Tyreese. She had finished her food and now gave her full attention to the newcomer.

Thea felt her palms grow sweaty at all the attention, she hadn't even had the chance to take a bite of her food yet with all the questions being thrown her way. Part of her wanted to be a little aggravated by that considering how long it had been since she'd had a proper meal, but she knew they would want to get as much information as they could out of her if they were going to let her live here; maybe this was Tyreese's plan all along when he had invited her down for dinner.

She nodded her head in agreement and rubbed her hands together under the table. "Yeah, it was weird. Kind of like being the new kid in school, except it's not just school but also a whole new country. I missed home, hated my parents a little for making me leave…" Trailing off she took a moment to remember her mother's smiling face the day she had set off to Georgia, and her father's tight hug; that was the last time she had seen them. The last time she would probably see them ever again for as long as she lived.

The group seemed to notice the change of mood and fell silent. After a moment Thea finally took a bite of her food. It was lukewarm by now but it still tasted better and filled her up more than anything had in a long while. She didn't care that she wasn't sure what the meat was, maybe deer or some sort of rodent, she only cared that she was going to fall asleep with a full stomach tonight. That feeling was something she had never expected to miss as terribly as she did.

* * *

Light filtered through the white sheet Karen had given her to hang in the doorway of her new cell. It woke Thea from a deep sleep, one that had been a long time coming. For a second she jerked into an upright position and whipped her head around to figure out where the hell she was, but then she remembered her run-in with the four survivors at the pharmacy and coming back to the prison and relaxed enough to flop back down onto the thin prison mattress.

She stared up at the bottom of the bunk above her where someone carved tally marks into the metal. Running a finger over a group of five she wondered if it had been an inmate pre-apocalypse or a survivor who had been marking the days.

Whoever it was had stopped marking after only sixty-two days and she wondered what happened to them, death being the most likely outcome.

Sighing softly, Thea rose from the bunk and stretched her arms high above her head. After her back had popped a couple of times she sat and slipped her shoes back on before she pulled the sheet back and stepped out into the open cell block.

She wasn't sure what time it was but Rick was standing down below with Judith on his hip, his free hand messing with something on the table by the wall. She paused for a moment to watch him and the almost normalcy of it all, like seeing a father with his daughter could take away from the fact that the outside world was literal hell.

A young blonde girl appeared from further down the row of cells and took Judith off his hands with a smile and then returned to whichever cell she had been in before and Thea took that as her cue to head for the stairs that lead down to the main floor.

Rick's eyes found her the second she set foot on the staircase and he eyed her for several seconds before turning and picking his watch of the table and slipping it back onto his wrist. "Morning." He said quietly as others were still sleeping.

"Morning." She replied with a small smile, crossing her arms over her chest. "What time is it?"

Carl came from a cell then, his eyes filled with sleep and a frown on his face. "Too early." He commented with a yawn that had his father chuckling.

"It's just after seven. Carl and I are just headed out to take care of the pigs and the garden." Rick informed her, patting the young boy on the shoulder.

Thea nodded her head. Her assumption that the dirt covering the man last night came from the garden had been correct. "Sounds like an important job," she said, eyes flickering to sleepy kid. "I could use some air…do you mind if I walk out with you guys?"

Carl looked to his father to see how he would respond, not seeming surprised when Rick stated he didn't mind at all, and then the three were headed out of the cell block.

When they reached the courtyard Rick spoke up. "What is it you did before all of this?"

She had wondered how long it would be before this question posed itself and when she had returned to her cell last night she had found herself trying to decide if she should tell them she was a surgeon or if she should lie and say she did a job less valuable in this world? Now that the question had been asked she found herself unable to lie.

"I was a doctor. I'd just finished up my internship, passed my boards with flying colors, and was about to start my surgical residency."

Rick seemed impressed, nodding his head. "That's impressive." He commented, though she could tell by his face he had more thoughts on the matter.

"If I had known the world was going to end, I wouldn't have gone through so much schooling." She joked, smiling a little as her eyes surveyed the area.

Carol was cooking up breakfast with a boy about Carl's age who wore thick black glasses, and down at the outer ring of fences there was a crowd of walkers forming. Their hands gripped at the chain links and so many of them had gathered in one spot that the fence swayed with their weight, the barbed wire spirals on top moved back and forth.

"We don't exactly have the luxury of many doctors these days." Rick told her earnestly, clearly seeing value in what she had thought of as a waste of her time.

Thea returned the smile he offered her and nodded, suddenly feeling like maybe now she had the chance of doing something with the life she had worked so hard for. When the world had ended she felt like the years of training and studying had been for nothing, like she had done all of it just to have it ripped away from her.

Now she might be able to get some sort of normalcy back, some form of reality. Of her life. And that was a good feeling.

* * *

 **A/N: That's the end of chapter two! Like I said, I wanted to get the introductions done and get a sense of where Thea stood at the prison. I do apologize if this chapter bored you. The next chapter will have a bit of a time jump as I don't want to spend too much time in the lull this chapter created. Also I know it may be a bit of a cliche to have a character from England and a doctor, but I am basing Thea off of a character I created for RP on Tumblr and I didn't want to change her story.**

 **Thank you for reading and please review to let me know what you think!**


	3. Decatur

**A/N: Chapter three is here! Thank you for the reviews and the follows, I really appreciate hearing your feedback and seeing that you like what you've read so far.**

 **This chapter does jump around a lot, but it is very clear which parts are present time and which are not. I hope you guys enjoy and please don't forget to review!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

In the weeks that had passed since she had joined the group at the prison, Thea had become very close friends with Karen. The two were like peas in a pod and if the former Woodbury resident couldn't be found by Tyreese's side then the next best place to check would be with the new doctor; Ty had started calling them 'The Gruesome Twosome' and it had quickly made its way around the prison.

Maybe it was the fact that Karen reminded Thea a bit of her sister that had drawn them together, or maybe they were just two women whose paths were destined to cross. Either way, it was obvious that theirs was a real friendship.

"I think Ty might be getting bored of me." Karen spoke suddenly, her eyes never leaving the tree line just outside the fences.

Thea glanced her way from the other end of the guard tower and rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous." She deadpanned before she lifted the binoculars back to her face.

She scanned the forest for a moment before a small red glow caught her attention below in the courtyard. The binoculars panned downward until a lone figure entered her line of vision. A cigarette dangled between two fingers, a thin grey swirl of smoke curling towards the sky. Lips took a long drag and the lit end burned bright against the night air that seemed to work as some sort of movie backdrop for Daryl from this angle.

Thea couldn't help but wonder how a guy like him had ended up in this group. She knew he had been with the 'original' members since Atlanta at the beginning of this whole mess, but how exactly a rough guy like him wound up joining them was something she had found herself wondering often.

Karen huffed loudly and drew her attention back to the conversation that had begun. "Okay so maybe not _bored_ of me, but he might be getting impatient."

One last glance at Daryl and then Thea made her way over to stand with her friend. The other woman was holding a rifle in her arms, her eyes scanning the prison yard and beyond the fences for any movement.

"Why do you think he's growing impatient with you?" Thea inquired.

Another sigh came and Karen shook her head. "I don't know, maybe he's not. Maybe I'm imagining things." She backtracked.

The doctor leaned against the railing and tipped her head to get a better view of her friend's face. "No, don't do that. If you think I'm letting you off that easy then you're dead wrong. Talk to me."

It took moment but finally the other woman gave in, sighing for the third time in two minutes and adjusting the rifle in her arms.

"I just think maybe he's getting tired of waiting…" she trailed off as if she expected Thea to know what she was talking about.

Thea had a few guesses but she wanted to hear it from Karen. "Tired of waiting for what exactly?" she pressed, a small smirk played at her lips.

She received a glare, but then her answer followed. "Sex. I told him I wanted to wait and I'm starting to wonder if that will be the death of this relationship. It is the end of the world after all…not exactly the right time for _taking it slow_."

The British woman scoffed quietly and shook her head, using the movement as a chance to scan the tree line quickly before responding. "You honestly believe _Tyreese_ is that kind of guy, Kar?" She asked. "That man is literally one of the good ones, I find it hard to imagine he would be willing to walk away from a relationship like yours just because he has to wait to get a little action."

Karen was silent for a long moment as she thought it over, a look of concentration pulling her mouth into a frown and her eyebrows drew together. If she noticed the stare from Thea, she didn't make any indication of it.

"You're right," She finally spoke with a tired smile. "That's probably the stupidest thing I've ever done, doubting him like that. He really is one of the good ones."

Thea grinned and reached over to squeeze Karen's shoulder in reassurance. "See, nothing to worry about." She winked. "You should be paying me."

The two laughed quietly, Thea slowly returning back to the other side of the tower to watch the opposite end of the prison.

Below in the courtyard she noticed that Daryl had gone back inside, but one of the men from the Decatur group, she thought his name was Hoyt, had made himself comfortable on the bleachers facing the old court.

The Decatur group hadn't been around long, only about ten days, and Thea remembered running into them clearly.

* * *

"Hey Thea, wait up!" Glenn called out, jogging to catch up with the woman.

She didn't stop walking, merely slowed and turned to look over her shoulder at him until he managed to reach her. "Hey, what's up?" She asked as they continued walking side-by-side.

A group of younger kids came running passed in the middle of an intense game of tag and the Korean man stepped closer to the Brit in order to avoid being run over. Lizzie and Mica trailed after the others slowly and sent them awkward apologies as they came by.

Shaking his head, Glenn finally spoke. "We're going on a run—Maggie, Daryl, and I—and we were wondering if you wanted to come with us?"

Thea sent him a surprised look. She hadn't left the prison since she had arrived, why were they asking her of all people?

"You want _me_ to go on a run with you?" she wondered, slowing to a stop as they reached the entrance to C Block.

Glenn nodded, awful sure of the idea if his face was any indication. "Yeah, we thought it would be a good idea, especially since we're running low on medical supplies…"

She smirked and crossed her arms over her chest, a teasing look on her face.

"So you've got ulterior motives then? You don't just want me to come because we're friends, you need someone who knows what to look for."

The look on the younger man's face was almost laughable, but he quickly recovered as he realized she was joking.

"Funny," he replied. "Look, Herschel can't exactly run on one leg and you're the only other person with the knowledge and experience. We've got a list of stuff to look out for but it looks like nonsense even to Maggie, and she has a little experience from working with her dad."

He was rambling, trying to convince her to go on a trip that she had already decided to go on, so she figured it would be better to put him out of his misery. Sure, she could let this go on for a bit to see just how far he could go, what he would say to persuade her, but it almost seemed too cruel.

"Calm down, Glenn, I'll come with you guys."

He seemed caught off guard by her agreeing without any more fuss, blinking at her. "Really? I mean, just like that?" He asked.

Thea raised her eyebrow at him. "Do you want me to protest a little more? Because I'm sure I can come up with a few more arguments to plead my case for staying."

"Just be ready in twenty, okay?" he sighed, shaking his head. He turned and walked back across the courtyard to where Maggie was loading up the back of the green Hyundai.

Laughing quietly to herself, she spun around and made her way into C Block. She waved at Karen and Tyreese who were sitting at one of the tables together and then found her way to the cells and up the stairs to walk the long upper level to her corner room.

Her backpack was mostly empty now and she dumped the remaining contents onto her bed and quickly replaced them with a bottle of water and her flashlight. She stuck the small travel size first aid kit Glenn had found for her on one of his many runs into the front pocket in case they stumbled across any problems while out there today, and then slipped her axe into the larger pocket the way she'd had it when the group had found her.

Slinging the pack over her shoulder and then double checking that her knife was still securely strapped to her thigh, she checked her watch for the time and then made her way back down the row of cells and into the cell block were Ty and Karen were seated.

"Where are you going?" Karen asked in surprise, her eyebrows pulling together in concern.

Thea shrugged as if it were completely casual. "On a run. With Glenn, Maggie, and Daryl."

"A run?" her friend repeated. "You don't go on runs…"

Tyreese looked a little amused at the reaction his girlfriend was having, looking between the two women as they spoke.

"It's not like this is going to become a habit, Kar, I'm just going so that I can help find the meds they need to restock." She explained calmly. "I'll be back before you know it."

It wasn't like she needed Karen's permission, but the two had grown close—almost like sisters—and so it was only natural for worry to rear its head when the other was putting themselves in a potentially dangerous situation.

Karen sighed and then nodded her head, slipping her hand back into Tyreese's large one. "Alright, just be careful, okay? And keep an eye out for jelly beans!"

"Will do." Thea replied with a laugh, raising her hand in a wave and then heading out of the cell block.

As she came into the courtyard, Daryl was coming back from D Block with a piece of folded up paper in his hand, most likely a list, and she fell into step beside him.

"Here's the list o' meds Herschel made." He said before she could speak, pulling another paper from his pocket and holding it out to her.

She took it and unfolded it to glance over it. Most of the medications listed were either antibiotics or pain relievers, there were a few that were daily meds for the older members of the group and then a couple of odd requests that had her frowning.

"Where are we headed exactly?" She wondered, stuffing the list in her own pocket.

Daryl shrugged his shoulder at her in response, chewing on his bottom lip as they made it to the Hyundai. His motorcycle was parking in front of it and he stopped for a moment to hand Maggie the list he still held through the window of the passenger's side.

"There's a town 'bout a quarter mile from where we found ya," He replied to Thea finally. "Don't think it's been hit yet."

Thea nodded her head and slipped her pack off, tossing it into the backseat. When she glanced back to respond verbally Daryl had already walked away and was mounting his bike, so she quickly jumped into the Hyundai and shut the door.

Glenn got into the driver's seat and then they were headed out.

* * *

The hatch in the interior portion of the guard tower creaked open and startled her. She turned to see who was coming up and almost rolled her eyes when she found it to be Tyreese.

He held a blanket under one arm and shut the hatch with the other before joining the two women outside. "Hey, Thea." He spoke quietly.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" She inquired, though she knew the answer.

Karen came around to his other side and grinned at him, as if she hadn't just been questioning their development, and Thea felt a pang of envy at the look of pure love in her eyes. She would kill for that feeling again.

"I figured I would come relieve you, you had a long day today." Tyreese told the doctor.

He was lying of course, she hadn't had a long day at all. In fact she had accidentally slept in this morning and missed breakfast, then she had basically had this world's version of a day off, and Ty knew fully well that she wasn't tired at all.

"Are you sure, I don't mind staying." She spoke the familiar line for what could have been the millionth time; Tyreese often relieved her of her watch duties about halfway through the night when she and Karen would be partnered up.

Tyreese smiled at her, recognizing that she wasn't protesting in any way at all. "I insist."

Thea sent Karen a sly look and then shrugged, handing the binoculars to the large man. "Well since you insist. You two have fun." She stated and then she was making her way down the stairwell in the guard tower.

When she reached the courtyard Hoyt was still there and though he had always given her the creeps she sent him a friendly smile and nod and moved towards C Block. It wasn't that late yet and she was nowhere near tired and the library sounded like a good idea. Maybe she could curl up with a good book and read for a little while.

* * *

The Hyundai came to a stop on the side of the road. The town was called Tucker and they had parked behind the post office as it was one of the first buildings they saw coming into the city. The plan was to split into two groups and each would take a different side of the long main street that seemed to go on for miles.

Maggie and Glenn took the left side and Daryl and Thea took the right; a couple of buildings down on the right side was the pharmacy and that made it obvious which side of the road Thea needed to be on.

The first building on their side housed an old barber shop called "Hal's" and Daryl rapped two knuckles on the glass door to call any walkers inside forward.

"My old man used to go to this shop in my hometown, the guy who ran the place kept a couple o' guns in the back." He explained to her as if he sensed that she was questioning whether or not it was worth it to go inside.

Seconds later an old man, still wearing his white apron, slammed against the door. His face was grey with death and he snapped his teeth at them through the glass. It didn't look like he had been in contact with any other walkers, so Thea could only assume he had died after locking up the shop hoping to wait it out.

Axe gripped tightly in hand, the nodded as Daryl gripped the door handle and waited a moment before he pulled hard to open the door. It didn't budge, of course, why would it? It was obvious that the owner had locked himself inside.

"Wait here, I'll go 'roud and see if there's a back door." Daryl told her before turning and heading for the alley with his crossbow at the ready.

Thea's eyes found the old man walker, _Hal_ , and she wondered just how he had died. He didn't look too thin so that ruled out starvation, and she didn't see anything to indicate he had taken his own life. Perhaps old age had caught up to him while he was hunkered down, a heart attack or a stroke could have done him in.

It was a sad way to go, all alone and hiding for survival. It made her glad that she wasn't alone now, that she had a group to help when times grew tough.

An arrow burst through Hal's forehead startling Thea enough to make her flinch. The now one hundred percent dead barber slumped to the floor to reveal Daryl, who moved forward to pull his bolt from the man's head and then pull his body aside so that he could open the door for her.

When the world had gone to hell, in the beginning, she had felt bad about killing walkers. She saw them as infected, the doctor in her wanted to find a cure and save people but she quickly came to the realization that these people weren't _sick_ they were _dead_ and even if she found a way to stop the turn, she would never be able to reverse the dead ones back to living. After that she learned to push aside the guilt that had come with putting down one of the walking dead.

The living were harder to kill, she didn't think she would ever get over doing that. She didn't want to.

They quickly checked the barber shop and all it did was prove Daryl right; the owner had a sawed off shotgun in the back office space but that was all there was worth grabbing. On the way out, however, Thea picked up a straight razor from one of the counters in front of the barber's chair and slipped it into her back pocket just in case it could come in handy later.

The next few shops proved to be a bust and she felt her confidence in this run dwindling as they finally approached the pharmacy. The well was about to run dry when they found the door unlocked and the shelves inside picked nearly clean, what little remained was scattered across the floor.

Daryl walked in front of her with her crossbow at the ready as he swept the front portion of the store. Once he had deemed it clear, he stooped down to pick up a box of over the counter ointment to inspect and Thea moved passed him with her axe gripped tight as she rounded the pharmacist's counter.

The shelves looked pretty sparse and she moved slowly down the first aisle. Her left hand separated the pill bottles and she eyed each label carefully, setting aside anything that wasn't needed or helpful in future scenarios. Her hand froze on a large pink bottle of prenatal vitamins and she stared at it for a second uncertainly before she glanced to make sure Daryl wasn't anywhere in sight.

She shoved them into one of the smaller pockets of her pack, just in case Karen or any of the other women needed them down the road now that people were feeling comfortable and settling in at the prison. Pregnancy had to happen eventually in a world where contraceptives were hard to find.

Zipping the pocket she spun around the end of the shelf and into the next aisle to continue her search. This shelf happened to have quite a few bottles left and she quietly turned them to see the labels, her axe hanging by her side in her right hand.

As she grabbed for a bottle of amoxicillin she felt the cool metal barrel of a pistol press against the back of her head and the breath left her in the same second. _Shit._

* * *

Thea entered C Block as quietly as she could, it was already late enough that people would be sleeping even though she wasn't tired herself, and was surprised to find Rick and Daryl sitting at a table in quiet conversation. Judith sat on her father's lap and he was attempting to give her a bottle, but she seemed to be fixated on the idea of moving to the other man's lap instead.

As Thea opened up the gated door leading into the small common area, Daryl took the baby off the former sheriff's hands and cradled her. He accepted the bottle from Rick and the child immediately drank away as if she had been starving this whole time, to which both men chuckled before the creaking of the gate turned their attention to her.

She sent them a small smile and a wave as Rick nodded and Daryl turned his focus back to Judith.

"Tyreese, again?" Rick asked simply, knowing that it was not uncommon for the man to take Thea's watch if she was partnered with his lady love.

The doctor nodded her head with a grin. "I'll just take his morning watch," she shrugged, though she didn't much care for the idea of getting up for the shift which started just a few hours after daybreak.

Rick shook his head, waving her off. "You've had a long night. I'll go up there after I feed the hogs in the morning."

Thea's eyebrows rose in surprise. Rick wasn't exactly unwelcoming to her, but he had never gone out of his way to make things easy for her. He treated her like any other person they had taken in, so why was he offering to take Ty's morning shift off her hands?

"Are you sure? I don't mind, really."

Judith fussed and kicked her foot into the crook of Daryl's elbow as his hand loosened on the bottle and the nipple slipped from her mouth. His eyes were squinting at her and Rick as he listened, but he quickly scoffed and replaced the nipple in the baby's impatiently gaping mouth.

Rick smiled at the attitude his daughter was displaying and locked eyes with Thea again. "Yeah, don't worry about it."

She wasn't about to argue with him further and she definitely wasn't going to deny herself a few extra hours rest even if she had overslept this morning. So instead she lifted her hands in surrender with a small laugh.

"Okay, thanks, no need to pull my arm," She joked. "In that case, I think I'll head to the library for a bit and find something to read. You boys have a good night, don't let Judith stay up too late."

With one last smile she turned and grabbed an extra flashlight from one of the other tables and headed for the tombs.

* * *

"Drop the axe slowly." A gravelly voice said from behind her as the gun pressed harder into the back of her head.

Thea's heart was pounding and she felt her chest rise and fall quickly as her breath came back to her in frightened pants. Her wide eyes stared at the bottle of amoxicillin in her hand and she wondered if she might be able to swing around and bury her axe into his gut before he could get a shot off. That thought quickly sickened her.

"I won't tell you again," The man said in an odd accent, most likely from somewhere northeast of here. "I can pull the trigger faster than you can move, so let's not do anything cute."

Where was Daryl? Had someone taken him out already? Was she next?

She swallowed hard and let the wooden handle slip down out of her hand until the axe clattered to the floor and she heard the stranger kick it away from her, her hope of survival skidding across the tile with it.

"Now the pills."

She set the bottle back on the shelf and kept her hand up for him to see as her right hand twitched towards the knife on her thigh; she hoped he didn't see it strapped there.

Before she could even touch the loop keeping the knife in its sheath she felt the man step closer to her, his breath tickled the back of her neck and she silently wished she had left her hair down rather than braiding it earlier.

A large hand brushed her hip and she flinched, her mouth parted in a quiet gasp, and she felt herself begin to shake in fear. She hated that someone could have that much power over her and wanted nothing more than to throw her elbow back into his face, but that would surely cause him to fire his gun in surprise and if he didn't end up shooting her he would still ring the dinner bell for any walkers in the area. His hand slid down her leg to the knife and quickly he unsnapped it from the sheath and yanked it free, and then he stepped away from her.

The distance only calmed her slightly.

"Drop the gun, asshole," Daryl's voice suddenly came from further behind her and she breathed a sigh of relief at the sound. Never had she been more relieved to hear that man's voice.

After a moment the weight of the pistol on the back of her head was gone and she glanced over her shoulder first before turning fully to see the face of the stranger who had managed to terrorize her a matter of seconds.

He had dark hair speckled with grey and small, beady brown eyes. He stood only about two inches taller than her, and since she was 5'5" that meant he was unusually short for a man. He was slowly lowering his gun to the floor and she reached forward quickly to snatch her knife back, returning it to its rightful position.

Daryl met her eyes over the asshole's head and she did her best to hide that she had been afraid for her life moments before, but he could probably tell she was a bit shaken up.

"You alright?" He asked, his crossbow still aimed at the stranger's head.

She nodded once and took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm fine." She stated, though how true that was she wasn't sure. She definitely didn't like being outside the prison fences but she also didn't like how only two months had managed to reduce her to that much weakness.

She side stepped past the stranger and crouched to pick up her axe where it had ended up against the wall before gripping it with both hands and glaring daggers at the man's back.

"Who the hell are you?" Daryl asked him, cautiously stepping around to view the man's face.

Her attacker held up his hands and glanced between the two of them. "Look, I don't want any trouble. I just needed those antibiotics for my friend." He informed them, avoiding the question.

Thea inched closer. "Was the part where you groped me necessary?" She demanded, those words causing Daryl to lift his crossbow higher and glare harder than should be possible.

"I was taking your knife, I wasn't trying to feel you up." The stranger was quick to defend himself before the archer could shoot an arrow in his eye.

Thea thought for a moment, staring at his beady eyes and trying to determine whether or not this man was lying to her. The fear that Daryl's crossbow had instilled in his face seemed genuine and she thought back to what he had said earlier about needing the antibiotics.

Grabbing the amoxicillin from the shelf she held it in front of his face. "Why do you need this? Your _friend_ sick or something?"

The man nodded hesitantly. "Y-Yes," He stammered. "He cut his leg pretty bad on some fence and it doesn't look too good. Figured I might as well get some antibiotics."

"How did you know what to look for? There's 'bout a million bottles in here." Daryl grunted, clearly not believing a word he was hearing.

Thea didn't blame him.

"My kids used to take amoxicillin when they got sick, I remembered the doctors saying it was an antibiotic." The stranger's face fell as he spoke about his children, a look of remorse and guilt replacing his fear. "They're dead now." He added even though it wasn't necessary.

After a long moment of thought Daryl lowered his crossbow, and glanced Thea's way before speaking again. "What's yer name?"

The man visibly relaxed now that there was no longer a weapon pointed at his face and he swallowed. "David."

* * *

She had walked the tombs several times before, both in day and night, but they still never failed to creep her out. Part of it was because of the gaping hole on the other side of the prison that walkers would sometimes wander into the prison through. The group had blocked it as best they could, but every so often one or two of the dead managed to squeeze through and wander the tombs looking for a meal.

Thankfully the library wasn't too far down and she stepped into the room, shining her flashlight around to see if anyone else was there. She was alone, and she found that she preferred that to finding another survivor reading; she liked the quiet.

She walked into the far corner of the room where she had seen medical textbooks on her previous visit and pulled a large volume from the chin high shelf. It was gross anatomy and she smiled to herself as she remembered a time when she was up late at the library on campus cramming for classes and downing coffee like it was a lifesaving drug.

The moonlight came through the windows enough for her to see the book without her flashlight and so she turned it off and set it on the top of the shelf. As she opened the book he heard a low creak from the doorway and froze, her eyes snapping up to scan the library for anyone or anything that had followed her in, but there was nothing.

Setting the book next to her flashlight, she pulled her knife and rounded the shelf to head towards the front end of the small library.

She didn't see anything as she moved slowly through the shelves with her knife poised at the ready. But she had been certain she'd heard the door creak and it couldn't have been in her head, could it?

Just as she was about to laugh it off and chastise herself for being so jumpy, something slammed into her back _hard._

* * *

 **A/N: Alright that's the chapter! Don't kill me for the cliffhanger, please! :)**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this one and the little bits of fluff I put in. I just adore the thought of Daryl and Judith having an uncle/niece relationship so I figured I'd add a bit in this chapter. And I really enjoyed Tyreese and Karen's relationship even if we didn't get to see very many episodes of it.**

 **As always, I would greatly appreciate it if you guys would review and let me know what you thought of the chapter! Also, if you could let me know if it was too difficult to read with the jumping around? I don't plan on doing chapters like this too often but if it did come up I'd like to know how you all felt about it.**

 **The next chapter will include more of the flashback to the run and we'll get to see what's going on in the library!**

 **Thanks for reading! :D**


	4. Devil Within

**A/N: Alright here is chapter four! A quick thank you to the few of you who reviewed, I really appreciate getting feedback on this, especially when I work so hard on chapters.**

 **IMPORTANT: This chapter is rated M and contains a trigger warning, I will have "TW: Skip if you do not wish to read" before the part that contains it so you can skip ahead, and "Continue reading here" so you know when it's over. I didn't go into many details in that scene because it wasn't necessary, but it is obvious what is happening so I just wanted to give you the option of skipping over it.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

" _We're holed up in the apartment above this store here," David informed as he lead Thea and Daryl towards what looked to be an abandoned liquor store._

 _After explaining more about his group, four guys who had met up in Decatur and stuck together, Daryl had relieved David of his weapons and told him if he tried anything funny he wouldn't hesitate to put a bolt between his eyes and then ordered him to lead the way._

 _Thea fell into step close to Daryl and glanced at the man in front of them. "Are you sure we shouldn't go get Maggie and Glenn? We're outnumbered here."_

 _He shook his head once. "If shit goes down at least they can get back to the prison. Ain't no reason we all gotta die." He explained._

 _Though the notion that they could end up dying in some kind of trap worried her, she knew that Daryl was right; there was no point in getting them all killed. Thea couldn't help but be a little impressed by Daryl's thinking, it was almost like he had been in similar situations before, and she wondered what exactly he did prior to the end of the world._

 _David stopped at the front entrance of the liquor store and rapped three times on the glass. It was boarded up from the inside and a few seconds later one of the boards across the door was pulled away. A young male face came into view and he visibly relaxed upon seeing the face of his group member. A second later, however, he saw the two newcomers and frowned before disappearing._

 _Thea glanced uneasily towards Daryl and gripped David's gun tightly in her hands, preparing herself for the possibility of having to shoot someone._

 _The door wretched open suddenly and there were two guns trained on them, one held by the younger man and the other held by a man with wild brown hair and unusually large blue eyes. He looked to be in his late thirties and gave Thea an odd feeling that had the hairs on her arms standing up._

 _Daryl's crossbow came up immediately and it took Thea a second longer to raise the gun._

" _The hell are you?" He demanded in a thick southern accent, his voice sounding like he had been smoking two packs a day since he was able to hold a cigarette._

 _David was quick to step between the two groups and throw his hands up. "Calm down, Hoyt!" he exclaimed. "She's a doctor!"_

Hoyt _moved his gaze to Thea and studied her face for a moment before his eyes raked her body in a not too subtle manner. He didn't look like he trusted her, but he sure looked like he was enjoying what he saw and it made her skin crawl._

" _Who's the dick?" He asked finally._

" _Best watch your mouth," Daryl growled._

 _Thea decided to speak up before things could escalate. "He's a friend. You want my help, he comes with me. We're a package deal."_

 _Hoyt stared at her for a long moment. "What makes you think we want your help?" he sneered._

 _This guy was wasting time. If their friend was really hurt then it wasn't like they could stand around chatting about it all day. She needed to get in there and take a look at his leg._

" _From what I hear, you've got a guy in there with a nasty cut." She began. "The way I see it you've got two options: let us come in and I can take care of him, or we walk and you get the pleasure of putting down your pal when he dies and comes back as a flesh eater."_

 _No one moved for several long seconds and she shrugged, lowering the gun. "Okay, c'mon Daryl, clearly they don't need us." She said, turning to make like she was going to leave though she had no intentions on doing that._

 _She heard Daryl's feet shuffling behind her and they made it to the curb before Hoyt called out to them._

" _Alright, fine! But I'm watching you and your little guard dog."_

 _Thea turned back to the store front, sending Hoyt a sardonic smirk. She knew he would stop them, most people weren't foolish enough to let a friend die because they were paranoid and even someone like Hoyt would give in if threatened with the death of a friend, even if it had never been her intention to actually leave._

 _It was about an hour later, after cleaning up a cut that had been about a day away from the point where amputation would have been the only option and stuffing antibiotics down the man's throat, his name was Ted and he was a lot nicer than Hoyt had been despite the incredible amount of pain he was in, that Thea found herself standing with Daryl in a far corner of the apartment above the run down liquor store._

" _Do we bring them back to the prison?" She asked. Her arms were folded across her chest and she glanced towards the group of men before her eyes flickered back up to Daryl's._

 _Daryl was a very observant person and she found that she trusted his judgement more than she would have expected. He had been silent throughout the hour that it had taken her to clean, stitch, and redress the wound and medicate Ted, but she soon realized it was just because he was studying them all closely._

" _You think we should?" He wondered. His eyes were locked on hers and she noticed for the first time that they were actually blue rather than the dark brown she had thought when they'd met._

 _Nodding her head, she answered honestly. "Hoyt gives me the creeps but the others seem nice enough. And that cut needs to be monitored, I don't feel comfortable leaving someone in Ted's condition out here."_

 _The archer squinted at her for a long moment, so long that she began to grow self-conscious, but then he nodded his head and pulled his crossbow off his shoulder. He didn't say anything further to her, simply turned and rejoined the group of men._

 _As Thea followed she heard Daryl ask the first of three questions she had been asked not too long ago._

 _By the end of that day Thea would find herself on the back of Daryl's motorcycle headed back to the prison, the new members of their little community stuffed in the back of the green Hyundai following close behind them._

* * *

Something slammed into her back hard and she was thrown forward before she even had a chance to react. She opened her mouth to scream but a second after she drew the gulp of air that would carry her shout cloth was shoved into her mouth roughly. It tasted like sweat and she tried her best not to gag as she threw her arm back hard.

Her elbow connected with something hard and she heard a grunt of pain, but the weight on top of her lessoned for a moment and she dug her nails into the carpet to pull herself forward. A glance backwards revealed her attacker to be Hoyt from the Decatur group.

Her arms protested and she reached over to grasp the bottom of one of the shelves to help more, but she only managed to get a few feet before a hand wrapped around the back of her neck. She let out a shriek, muffled by the cloth in her mouth, and tried to swing her arm back again but he was expecting it this time.

His other hand wound itself into the back of her shirt and he used it to drag her back to him.

Her heart was pounding in her chest, her jaw ached from her mouth being forced into the wide open position by the large amount of whatever was in her mouth, and she could tell the skin on her left elbow had been burned by skidding across the carpet.

"Help me out here!" Hoyt whispered harshly and for a second she thought he was talking to her.

Until the young boy from his group rounded the shelf in front of her.

His name was Josh and he had never been anything other than polite and sweet to her, this kid having a part in whatever this was shocked her to her core.

He moved forward and his boot came quickly towards her face, connecting hard with her temple and sending stars across her line of vision.

"Not the face, idiot!" Hoyt warned him.

Thea had grown slack for several seconds as she tried to regain control over the spinning room and Josh used that time to kneel before her and grasp her upper arms in his hands, holding them out in front of her in a vice-like grip that had her wincing.

Behind her the other man snickered in amusement at the position she was in, lying on her stomach on the library floor with her arms held down. For a second Thea wondered what the hell they planned to do with her now.

And then it hit her about the same time Hoyt's work boot slammed against her ribcage.

Thea called out in pain, biting down hard on the gag and squeezing her eyes shut as she felt one of her ribs crack from the blow.

 **TW: Rape. Skip ahead if you do not wish to read.**

"Shut up, bitch!" Hoyt commanded, stooping to grab her by the braid and wretch her head back to look her in the eyes. "You asked for this. I saw the little look you gave me on your way into the cell block earlier."

Her mind was still reeling from the kick to her temple but she distinctly remembered nothing inviting about the _polite_ smile she had offered him in the courtyard earlier. The fact that he had misinterpreted that made her angry, and reminded her of all the stories she heard from young women that would come into the emergency room reporting that they had been sexually assaulted; nine times out of ten they stated that their attackers had been someone who they had been friendly to but never given the impression that they were romantically interested in.

Hoyt released her hair and her head fell back onto the carpet, her chin connecting with a thump as he moved to stand behind her once again.

As soon as she felt his hands lift her shirt slightly she began clawing at Josh's legs and arms to release his hold on her. Tears were streaming down her face and she hadn't even realized until the younger of the two sighed at her attempts and his breath felt cold on her wet cheeks.

Josh simply trapped her hands under his knees, his full weight on her fingers causing her to whimper.

Rough hands gripped the waistband of her jeans and she felt her eyes widen as her pants and underwear were tugged down in one violent motion.

Hoyt snickered, Josh had the decency to look away in shame, and then she heard the jingle of the older man's belt.

 _Oh god._

* * *

 **Continue reading here:**

When the sun came streaming through the windows of the library and landed on her face she groaned and lifted her hand to cover her eyes. Her upper arm protested at the movement and she spotted the purple hand-shaped bruise that had formed around her bicep. Her other arm looked the same.

It came back to her then, what had happened hours ago in this very library.

She remembered the sweaty taste of the handkerchief that was now in a crumpled heap next to a small pile of vomit several feet away from her.

She remembered Hoyt laughing at her as she cried, remembered Josh actually refusing when Hoyt had told him it was 'his turn', and remembered the second kick to the ribs that came before the two men had left the room.

When she had mustered up the strength she had pulled up her pants and yanked the handkerchief from her mouth, proceeded to vomit, and then crawled into the corner she had fallen asleep in as tears streamed down her face.

Now in the cold light of day her body ached, her ribs protested as she drew in air and her head was throbbing; she wasn't sure if it was more from the kick Josh had given her or from the crying.

She was angry and she was having a hard time deciding if she was angrier with the men or with herself. She came to the conclusion that she was pissed at herself for not just going to bed, for not fighting more, for even smiling at Hoyt in the courtyard. For bringing the men back to the prison. It was on her.

After a moment, Thea managed to pull herself shakily to her feet and somehow got to the showers without passing anyone in the halls even though it was morning and more than a few people would often get up early to wash and start the day.

She needed to wash away the memory of the previous night, needed to scrub her skin until it was raw, but when she undressed and closed the make-shift curtain in the far corner 'stall' she only managed to stay upright in the spray of the cold water for a minute before she collapsed to the hard floor, a flood of tears mixing with the water raining down on her.

* * *

Thea wasn't sure how long she sat there before she heard someone call her name softly, in a concerned voice.

The water had long since stopped running from the showerhead and she now sat cold and naked on the floor, her hair partly dry and sticking to her back and face. Karen stood in front of her, confusion on her pretty face as she took in her friend's state.

"Thea, what happened? Are you okay?" She demanded, eyes falling on the bruises on her arms and ribcage. The latter had blossomed across her side and down her torso in a large, dark mark that sent fear racing through Karen's mind.

The darker haired woman came forward with her hands reaching towards her and Thea shrunk away instinctively, wincing just slightly as the movement shot pain up her side. Karen froze, her eyes widening for a second.

"Sweetie, what happened?" She asked again, crouching down in front of her and studying the bruises closely. Her eyes lingered on the hand prints that circled the doctor's biceps. "Jesus Christ."

Moving to stand, she grabbed the curtain to pull it open again. "I'm going to get Maggie."

"No, please, no!"

Karen seemed surprised by her outburst and then sighed. "Thea you have to tell them. The Council. They have to punish whoever did this."

"I can't. P-Please, don't say anything." She whimpered.

Her friend looked heartbroken by the expression on her face and the way her voice had cracked, but she nodded slowly and then disappeared outside the curtain. When she returned she held a fresh change of clothes, probably what she had intended on changing into after showering, and she didn't speak another word as she helped Thea dress.

The two made their way slowly from the showers and down the dimly lit hallways that led to C Block. Thea's hair was dry now and Karen had tried to brush it out of her face as much as she could, but when she had caught sight of the bruise on her temple she pulled the hair back down to cover it.

When they entered C Block, Thea stiffened when she saw that Herschel, Glenn, Maggie, and Daryl were standing by the stairs that led to the upper level of cells. The stairs Thea needed to go up to get to her cell.

Herschel was the first to catch sight of the two of them and he straightened up, concern flashing across his features when he saw the state Thea was in.

Karen had an arm around her shoulders, the other hand holding her forearm gingerly, to keep her steady as they walked. Thea probably looked affright, her eyes red-rimmed from crying and her face pale. She had her arms wrapped tightly around her middle to keep her cracked ribs from shifting too much as she moved; she would need to wrap them as soon as she got into her cell.

"Is she okay?" the old man asked, drawing the attention of the others.

Thea's eyes travelled their faces; Maggie and Glenn looked just as concerned as Herschel, but Daryl's expression was hard to read, she couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"She's just not feeling too well," Karen lied smoothly with a small smile for extra measure. "I'm taking her to lie down in her bunk."

Three of the group seemed to believe her, Herschel asking if they needed him to come up and check her out, but Daryl fixed Thea with a scrutinizing gaze, his eyes squinting further in disbelief. She was instantly glad that the shirt Karen had given her had long sleeves or else she was sure he would see the bruises on her arms.

"No," Thea croaked out. "I'll be okay, I just need to sleep for a bit."

The old man nodded. "Let me know if you need anything, alright?" His voice was gentle and kind. It made Thea want to cry again.

"Thank you."

Karen helped her up the stairs and moments later she was sitting on the bunk in her cell as her friend pulled the sheet across the door to conceal them from prying eyes. She grabbed the ace bandage from the small table by the wall.

"Let's get your ribs wrapped and then I'll find something in your stash for the pain, okay?"

Thea wasn't sure what she would do without a friend like Karen.

* * *

 **A/N: I know what you're thinking: "Why the hell would she have something like that happen in the FOURTH CHAPTER?" And the reason is that I wanted this to be something that is a part of Thea's story instead of something that happened in the past or will happen later on and be glossed over when the Governor returns and runs them out of the prison. I want this story to be about Thea's journey from victim to survivor, much like Carol's journey from battered housewife to badass warrior.**

 **I understand if this chapter makes you stop reading the story, but I do encourage you to read further and join me on Thea's journey. Also remember that TWD is a dark show and this story will not be any different.**

 **I would appreciate some reviews to hear what you all thought! I noticed a lot of people read and then don't review and it is a little upsetting to say the least. I'm not going to be one of those writers who threatens to withhold chapters unless an x amount of reviews happen, I just want to know your thoughts!**

 **Thank you all for reading and I hope you'll return for chapter five, which will be posted on Sunday to make up for the way this chapter went!**


	5. Five Days

**A/N: Chapter five has arrived! I hope you all enjoy this, I certainly enjoyed writing it. This may seem like a filler chapter but don't worry, we're almost to episode 4x01.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

Four days.

That's how long it had been since the attack in the library.

Four whole days of hiding out in her cell as much as she could and trying to convince the other survivors that she was simply 'under the weather'.

96 hours of blaming herself for what Hoyt and Josh did, of trying to figure out just what she did wrong.

5,760 minutes. 345,600 seconds.

And the entire time she knew deep down that it was ridiculous, that Hoyt and Josh were the real ones to blame, but she was stuck in a rut of pity and guilt. The same rut she saw so many girls in when they traveled through her ER.

She couldn't believe they blamed themselves then, so why was she so quick to blame herself now?

Maybe now she could understand what they were truly thinking…she wished she could have reached that point of clarity in another way.

* * *

On the fifth day she stood from her bunk and stopped to stare into the tiny metal mirror that was mounted to the wall. She studied her reflection, her light brown hair had grown long since the end of the world and she pushed it back off her face to view the L-shaped bruise that marred the pale skin of her temple.

It was beginning to transition from a bluish-purple color to a sickly green and she sighed heavily, eyes lowering to her upper arms.

Where Josh's hands hadn't held as tightly the bruises were close to fading, but the underside of her arms were tender and greenish-yellow fingers were still visible.

Her ribs were an entirely different story. Karen helped her wrap them every day but Thea knew enough to know that it would take around six weeks for the one she had cracked to heal completely. That was forty-two days of pain ahead of her, and she didn't have the kind of medication needed to make getting through the next thirty-seven days easy.

She sighed again and moved to pull her hair up, gritting her teeth as raising her arms aggravated her ribs further. And then she groaned again when she remembered that she _couldn't_ put her hair in a bun or a ponytail if she wanted to keep the bruise on her temple covered.

She sure as hell wasn't going to be braiding it again any time soon.

Damn it.

A growl of frustration came from her throat and she snatched up the scissors from the table and began to snip at her long hair. The hair that Hoyt had grabbed ahold of and used against her. Hair she had preferred long in the old world, but now was beginning to see the impracticality of it.

When her angry cutting was finished she dropped the scissors onto the table with a loud clatter and studied her reflection again; this time the face looking back at her was framed by hair that just barely brushed her collarbones in choppy layers. She was no hairdresser, but then again she wasn't exactly trying to impress anyone.

"Thea?"

She jumped, startled by the voice that called her name from the other side of the pink sheet that hung in the doorway, and turned to quickly grab a shirt from the top bunk that had long enough sleeves to cover her upper arms.

"You awake?" Beth asked just as the shirt was pulled over her head.

Pulling the sheet back quickly, she faced the young blonde girl with a forced smile, ignoring the surprised look she received at her new hairstyle.

Crossing her arms so she could hold her ribs discretely, she raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, what's up, Beth?" she wondered. It wasn't like the youngest member of the Greene family talked to her, ever.

"Maggie wanted me to ask if you could meet her in her cell."

Thea frowned, but she nodded her agreement. What did Maggie want with her? Had she figured out what had happened in the library or was this a medical visit?

Maggie and Glenn's cell was on the main floor and she descended the metal stairs slowly, one arm still wrapped around her torso as she held onto the railing. She could see the older Greene daughter standing in the small room chewing on her thumb nail nervously.

"Hey, what's going on?" Thea asked as she came to rest in the doorway, her heart beat in her chest so hard she was sure it would burst right through her sternum and fall to the floor in between the two of them.

Maggie cut her eyes sideways to make sure no one was within earshot and then answered in a whisper for extra measure. "I think I might be pregnant."

Okay that was not what she had expected. Definitely was not one of the scenarios that had run through her mind when Beth had told her that Maggie wanted to meet. Was it wrong to feel some assuagement that instead of figuring out what had happened, the farmer's daughter simply thought she had a bun in the oven?

Probably.

She tried her best to hide her relief. "Oh. Okay, um, is that something you and Glenn want or…?" She responded.

There was a defeated look on the other woman's face.

"Glenn's scared. He thinks it's a death warrant after what happened to Lori."

Rick's wife. She had died in childbirth and Maggie had been the one to cut Judith from her belly. Thea only found out when she had asked Glenn where Carl's mother was; she had assumed dead but hoped it had been a less gruesome event. Then again there was no easy way out of this new world.

"Do you?" she spoke softly, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach at the thought of her friend going through something similar.

The farmer's daughter shook her head though, her shoulders lifting in a shrug. "It doesn't have to be. We have something good here, we can put down roots and rebuild our lives."

Thea admired her view. Five days ago she might have agreed.

Maggie was biting her thumbnail again. "Maybe we should go somewhere private. Maybe the library."

She might have literally felt her heart stop for a moment.

"No!" She exclaimed a little too quickly, a little too loudly. The look she received would have been comical in any other situation and she tried to backtrack. "I-I mean Carol will be there. Doesn't Story Time start soon?"

The other woman seemed to believe her and sighed, nodding. "You're right. Just…pull the sheet and we can talk quietly."

Thea did as she was told and then the two of them were sitting on the bed Glenn and Maggie had made by taking apart their bunks and pushing them together. Mrs. Rhee had a look in her eyes that told the doctor that she believed Thea had all the answers and given her current situation it scared the hell out of her.

"Okay, so the first thing I would recommend is getting a home pregnancy test to take-"

"-Glenn's on a run with Daryl now. I told him to keep an eye out-"

"-Okay, great. And when was your last menstrual cycle?"

Maggie was silent for a few seconds as she counted on her fingers. "Maybe thirty-three…thirty-four days ago?"

She got up and checked the calendar that hung on the wall and corrected herself. "Thirty-two days ago."

Thea nodded her head and gave the other woman a reassuring smile. "That might not mean anything. A normal cycle is about twenty-eight days and it's not uncommon to be late when you're under stress. Can't get more stressful than our current living situation, right?"

That seemed to calm the younger woman down enough and she sat back on the bed with a slightly sheepish look. Thea wished the days were as simple as worrying about an accidental pregnancy. Things would never be that simple again.

"You're right, I'm sorry. Maybe I'm just being crazy."

"Don't worry about it, really. It's okay to get a little crazy sometimes."

Maggie smiled.

"Is it wrong to think we can have lives here?" she asked.

That feeling of dread returned to her as she recalled that even she had thought that perhaps things would work out in the prison. She had every reason to believe that things would be okay here; until five days ago.

She didn't want to kill that hope she saw in Maggie's eyes. Refused to let that be someone else's dilemma.

"I don't think that's wrong, Maggie." She lied, looking down at her hands in her lap. "I think maybe some people can have something great here."

The farmer's daughter frowned, tipping her head to look at her friend's face. "Are you okay, Thea?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." She lied again, turning her eyes upward to try to stop the forming tears from actually escaping, her face turning slightly away from Maggie's questioning gaze. A mistake she shouldn't have made.

"What's that?" Maggie asked, eyes fastened on the L-shaped bruise that had been revealed as the other woman's hair had moved.

She reached forward to brush the hair back in order to get a better look and Thea wasn't able to cover her flinch fast enough.

Maggie froze.

"Someone did this to you?" She asked, her voice suddenly darker.

Thea stood quickly and tugged her hair back over the mark. "It's nothing." She whispered hastily, her voice thick with the tears she hadn't shed yet.

The younger brunette stood and blocked her path to the door, a soft but determined expression on her face.

"Thea, please," She spoke gently. "Tell me."

They locked eyes in challenge, Maggie's demanded answers while Thea's begged the taller woman to let her go.

"There's nothing to tell." Thea finally whispered, eyes wide and brimming.

Before Maggie could respond, Beth pulled the sheet back with the arm that wasn't holding Judith on her hip.

"Maggie, Glenn's back." She informed them, eyeing the position they were in before disappearing from sight.

Thea blinked, tears finally falling silently down her cheeks, and Maggie sighed with defeat.

"This conversation isn't over." She told her before leaving the cell.

She let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding in and wiped at her cheeks furiously. The feeling of relief that washed over her was coated with shame.

Turning to the mirror on the wall she took a moment to collect herself before following after the southerner out to the courtyard.

There were a few people milling about while others helped unload what supplies the scavengers had found from the back of the silver truck. Thea kept her arms around her ribs and moved slowly towards the returning group to see if they had found anything medically useful.

Glenn and Daryl hadn't returned alone, however, and she slowed her pace as she eyed the stranger who stood beside the Korean man.

He didn't look particularly unfriendly, but then again neither had Josh, and she felt herself tensing up at the thought of yet another person to worry about in the prison.

While he didn't look unfriendly he certainly had a look in his eyes that told her he had seen quite a bit in his lifetime. The hair on his head looked like it was in the middle of growing back in after being shaved and his mouth was surrounded by facial hair and patches had started to grow on his jaw.

"This is Bob," Glenn introduced to the small group that had formed to greet the newcomer.

"Bob Stookey," the man added with a friendly smile. "It's nice to meet you all."

Thea decided then that she wasn't sure what to think of this man. His voice was friendly but his eyes never quite lost that haunted glow. She didn't bother moving to introduce herself, choosing to stay back from the crowd instead.

She eyed the things being taken from the bed of the truck silently until she caught sight of Hoyt pulling a box out. Freezing, she watched him with wide eyes. It was the first time she had seen him since that night and she could feel her palms begin to sweat, her chest heaved with every breath.

He turned and caught her eyeing him and a slow smirk spread across his thin lips.

Her skin crawled.

A voice calling her name broke her from the staring contest that had begun between her and her attacker and she jumped what could have been three feet in the air at the sound before she whipped her head around.

Rick stood on her right, eyebrow raised at her reaction. "You alright?" He wondered, an amused look on his face.

"Yeah, you just startled me." Thea played it off with a laugh and faced him completely, her hand over her heart for dramatic effect.

He apologized with a smile. "Glad to see you up on your feet."

"Thanks."

"You look better, but if you're still not feeling up for it I was going to say that I could take your watch with Karen tonight."

She appreciated the sentiment, but she needed to be around someone that understood right now.

"That won't be necessary," She assured him. "I'll be fine."

The sheriff studied her for a second before nodding his head and giving a small shrug. "Let me know if you change your mind."

"Will do."

She thought for a moment he was going to ask her if she was okay again based on the way he was watching her, but finally he stepped backwards towards the cell block.

"I like your new look," He commented, finger motioning towards her hair before he turned and entered C Block.

She watched him go until he had disappeared out of sight, and then she turned back to see if the eyes she felt on the back of her neck were still Hoyt's.

She was surprised to find the observer was the owner of a crossbow.

* * *

That night she was more than glad to slowly climb the stairs of the guard tower with binoculars in hand and Karen waiting at the top. Hiding in her cell had been to avoid others seeing her in the state she was in, but it had also ended up being a great way to draw attention and she had quickly realized that she needed to try to get back into old routines in order to keep anyone from asking questions.

She, rather painfully, climbed up the ladder that led to the hatch-like door of the inner tower and pushed up to lift the hatch. She closed it quietly behind her once she was standing inside the tower and then looped the strap of the binoculars over her shoulder as she joined Karen outside.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" the woman asked her gently, her grip on the rifle loosening.

Thea shrugged her shoulders and rested against the railing. Her eyes roamed over to the groups of walkers forming against the fences.

"I know that's a stupid question, but I really wish you wouldn't ignore it."

She knew she should feel grateful to have someone who knew what had happened, that she should utilize Karen's knowledge and talk to her. She didn't want to talk though, she wanted to wallow in it and hope it went away. Remaining silent, she could hear Karen sigh behind her.

"At least tell me how you feel physically?"

It was Thea's turn to sigh and she closed her eyes for a long moment before speaking.

"I'm stiff, but the bruises are healing. My ribs will take longer though, and they hurt." She responded honestly, turned her head towards the brunette.

She didn't miss the look Karen gave her though she wished she had. Looks like those were the reason why she hadn't reported Hoyt and Josh to The Council like her friend had suggested.

She didn't want _everyone_ to look at her with pity in their eyes.

The woman with the rifle nodded and opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the hatch door opening suddenly. They really were bad at this whole 'on guard' thing if they couldn't see a big guy like Tyreese coming.

It wasn't Tyreese, though, and Thea felt herself stiffen as Maggie Greene came into view.

She smiled at Karen and held her hands out for the rifle. "Figured you could use a night off." She explained in her southern drawl.

"Oh it's really no bother," Karen protested, eyes on Thea. "I think Thea should probably go rest some more though."

She'd rested enough.

Maggie agreed.

"Actually I was hoping I could talk with Thea."

Karen's gaze flickered between the farmer's daughter and the doctor curiously as they stared at each other. Maggie's eyes held determination to get to the bottom of what was really going on with the Brit. Thea's were filled with worry about information spreading through the prison like wildfire.

Finally, after a long moment Thea nodded to Karen that it was okay and the rifle was passed on. Karen disappeared into the stairwell of the tower and they were alone.

Thea turned back to the view of the fences and waited for the questioning to begin. When Maggie didn't speak right away she felt even more anxious. What was the other woman thinking? What did she think happened to her?

"You were attacked." It wasn't a question.

She didn't respond even when her heart skipped a beat and sweat formed on the back of her neck.

Maggie continued. "You were attacked in the library. That's why you have the bruise. That's why you're holding your side."

Thea laughed harshly, tried to hold back her tears. "Well it looks like you've got it all figured out, huh?" she remarked with a shake of the head.

A scoff followed and Maggie moved to lean against the section of railing to the left of where Thea stood, keeping her distance as she crossed her arms.

"I'm not an idiot, Thea, and I'm not the only one who has noticed the way you have been acting lately. Is that all that happened? You got jumped in the library and beat up?" she demanded to know.

She turned to face the southerner, one hand on the railing while the other arm hung loosely at her side. "What do you want me to say, Maggie? Do you want me to tell you how one guy held me down while the other one _raped_ me?" She spoke angrily, the rage she had kept hidden bubbling up to the surface.

The other woman's face fell dramatically and she straightened up, her mouth fell open just a little in surprise. There was a look in her eyes that had Thea wondering if she had experience with this particular form of trauma; a haunted glow that seemed to conjure tears that refused to fall, instead making her already trouble eyes shimmer with old ghosts.

For some reason it made Thea's heart break.

"I'm not asking for your pity so you can save it." She growled.

She turned and went to the opposite side of the tower, gripping the binoculars in her hands a little too hard. She was pissed, beyond angry. She didn't need this getting around, definitely didn't need to hear things like 'it will be okay' or have someone tell her they were there for her. She didn't want that.

As her eyes fell to the courtyard she found Hoyt sitting on the bleachers, his eyes turned upwards to the tower and a grin spreading across his face.

He raised his hand to send her a wave.

Thea shivered.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, I know it was a bit of a filler but I promise the action will be starting soon. If you remember in the first episode of season four they mentioned that Bob had only been at the prison for a week, so that means we are just seven days from the beginning of the season! I won't spend too much time dragging out those days, but there will either be one more full chapter before "30 Days Without an Accident" or the group leaving for the run to the Big Spot will take place at the end of the next chapter.**

 **Also I had someone ask if I had thought of any actresses to use as visual reference for Thea. I mentioned before that her character is one that I have roleplayed as on Tumblr and her face claim on there is Camilla Luddington. If you want to see the haircut Thea gave herself in the chapter you can just search "Camilla Luddington short hair" and voila!**

 **As usual, I'd love to hear what you thought of this chapter and thank you for reading! :)**


	6. Tomorrow

**A/N: Chapter six is here! I just want to thank everyone who reviewed and favorited this story, I am so glad you are enjoying it!**

 **This chapter deals with some heavy stuff and gives us a little look back at Thea's sister and nephew. I hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

" _Maybe we could drive home. Mom and Dad are probably worried out of their minds about us!"_

 _Thea turned to glance at her sister where she sat with Hank curled up on her lap in the passenger's seat of an old pickup they had managed to find with the keys still inside._

 _Catherine's face looked like it had aged several years in the four weeks it had been since the initial outbreak of whatever virus was attacking the population. The worry lines that had been practically nonexistent before were now a permanent feature on the young woman's pale skin._

 _She sighed and faced the road again, shaking her head. "We can't, Cat." She spoke softly to keep from waking up the sleeping toddler._

" _What do you mean 'we can't'?" Cathy demanded to know, not bothering to keep her voice down._

 _Henry stirred but didn't wake up._

" _You saw how the highway was, there's no way we could get through that. And we sure as hell don't know the backroads of Georgia enough to find our way to the next state and_ then _to West Virginia."_

 _Her little sister huffed and rubbed at her forehead in exasperation, clearly not enjoying being told what to do. She had never taken to rules very well._

 _They were silent for a long moment as Thea drove down the dirt road they had flagged on a map. It would lead to a lesser known road that would take them to the destination the older Ellis daughter had picked out._

" _And where are you proposing we go, exactly?" Catherine demanded to know in a softer voice, her fingers reaching down to comb through Hank's unruly blonde curls._

 _If she could literally roll her eyes out of her skull she would have right then. "Fort Benning is our best option, Cat. They'll have answers and shelter and we can hunker down until we figure out what the hell is happening."_

 _She took a left onto the paved road that had come into view and they drove for several minutes in silence. Thea understood that her sister was mad at her for not waiting up for Kyle to find them in the parking lot at Georgia Tech, but she_ had _to think about her family's safety first. She was positive Kyle would want his wife and son safe even if that meant being without him. Cathy didn't see it that way and had called her older sister a few nasty names, but she had listened and they were all alive right now. That was what was most important._

 _The pavement began to cut through a small town and Thea grabbed the map off the seat between the two women to see where to turn next just as an unnatural sputtering sound came from the engine. The truck slowed on its own and Thea mashed her foot on the gas pedal over and over to try to speed up, but it didn't work._

" _Shit." She muttered, slamming her palm against the steering wheel when the pickup came to a stop and died, smoke coming from underneath the hood._

" _What now?" Catherine asked as if it weren't obvious._

 _Thea tossed the map aside and jumped out of the truck, moving around to lift the hood. She was instantly engulfed in smoke and coughed as it filled her lungs, waving her hand to try and clear it away from her._

" _What's wrong with it?" her sister called through the open passenger window._

 _She had no idea to be honest. She knew nothing about cars, in fact she was pretty incompetent. Looking under the hood now she could identify the engine, the battery, and the spot where the oil went but that was the extent of her knowledge._

" _Well I would say it's dead, that much I'm sure on." She responded, placing her hands on her hips and tipping her head back to look at the sky in frustration._

 _Cathy's door opened and she came around to look, Hank propped on her hip as he rubbed sleep from his blue eyes. "Well shit." She commented, looking just as lost as Thea did._

" _Mama, tha's a bad word." Hank told her sleepily._

 _Catherine scoffed at the child, shaking her head with a small smile. "Yeah? Well you've heard worse than that, Sweetie."_

 _Moving around to grab their bags from the cab, Thea slung her pack over her shoulders and handed Cathy's over to her. "We better keep moving. We'll try to find another car here in town before making our way towards Fort Benning."_

" _Great." Cat grumbled before following after her._

 _The little group walked a few blocks into town, Thea stopping to check the cars along the way but not having any luck. It wasn't like she could hotwire one, so they were relying solely on the luck that someone might have left their keys behind. And it was_ bad _luck._

 _As they turned down what was labeled as 'Oak Street', Thea following the map as best she could, they stopped dead in their tracks as the smell of rotting flesh hit them smack in the face._

 _Standing before them was about forty of the infected. They had been standing dormant for reasons unknown, but now that three walking meals had stumbled across them they began to snarl and reach out with graying fingers and tripping over their own feet to get to them._

" _Run! Get into one of the buildings!" Thea yelled to her sister, who clutched her son closer and turned to race down the street._

 _Thea pulled the handgun she had found in one of the apartments they had stayed in for a few nights and fired at a few of the infected closest to her. It took two shots to take down the first one, thankfully she got the second with one shot, but then the third required four bullets. She really needed to practice with this thing._

 _As she took aim and fired upon a fourth dead one she hit it in the neck and then pulled the trigger again, but the only sound that came was a click. The clip was empty._

" _SHIT!" she shouted and threw the gun into the face of the former waitress who was shambling forward to take a bite out of the Brit._

 _She turned to follow her sister and caught sight of her disappearing into an abandoned movie rental store and slamming the door shut just as four of the dead slammed into it, blocking Thea from getting inside._

 _Inside she could see Catherine and Hank's terrified faces as they watched the large herd begin to descend on the doctor. The boy was crying as he yelled something she couldn't hear, reading his lips told her he was calling her name, but she didn't have time to see what else because a hand grabbed her arm roughly._

 _She screamed and yanked her arm back hard managing to release herself from the creature's grip, and then turned to race down the street as fast as she could._

 _The herd followed, somehow keeping close to her even though they couldn't move faster than a quick stumble._

 _There was a firetruck that had been abandoned in front of a bookstore and she ran for it, climbing up the side and wrenching open the passenger side door to climb inside._

" _Ahhh! God!" She exclaimed as a dead fireman, about three times her size, came tumbling out of the truck. She narrowly missed getting pancaked beneath him, rolling sideways away from his grasping hands._

 _She climbed up the truck again and this time grabbed at the long red axe that hung on the side, jumping down and swinging the thing into the dead firefighter's head with a dull thunk. The herd was fast approaching and she knew that she had to lead the away from the movie store and find her way back, so she yanked the axe from the dead one's head with a sickening squelch and took off down the street once again, her legs protesting as she sprinted with all her might._

 _In the end, after leading the herd more than ten blocks away and doubling back, she had returned to the movie rental shop in a state of exhaustion with rotting blood on her skin to find it empty._

 _Catherine and Henry were nowhere to be found. And she never saw them again._

* * *

She was roused from her fitful sleep by a soft rustling sound that had her springing up in her bunk quickly. She instantly hissed in pain, having forgotten about her ribs, and gripped her side as she squeezed her eyes shut.

"Sorry, I was just looking to see if you had any more of that stuff you gave me for nausea." Maggie apologized from where she was crouched down by Thea's bag.

The doctor sighed and swung her legs off the bunk to stand, holding her side painfully. She grabbed the bottle of medicine from the little shelf that was mounted on the wall and handed it over.

"You know, you should really have my dad or Dr. S take a look at those ribs."

Thea shook her head quickly and dropped her arms to her side for good measure. "I'm fine, Maggie. Besides, I'm a doctor, I'm capable of looking after myself just fine."

She didn't mean it to come out so nasty, but it did and Maggie frowned at the tone of voice and turned to exit the cell.

She stopped in the doorway and her eyes found Thea's again. "You know we're just trying to look out for you. You're one of us now." She whispered, her face set in worry as she left.

Great. Now she was pushing away people who cared about her all because of something a couple of good-for-nothing assholes had put her through. It was a never ending spiral into cutting herself off from everyone, and she needed to remedy that.

Since it wasn't like she was going to be able to go back to sleep any time soon, it appeared to be just before dawn, she pulled her sneakers back on and grabbed a light jacket and then headed out of the cell block. She stopped in the courtyard and sat on the bleachers, arms wrapped around herself to help fight off the chill of the wind, and stared out at the groups of walkers that had formed on the fences overnight.

Their moaning and groaning could be heard even from where she sat and it sent a shiver up her spine. They were never going to truly be rid of these beasts, were they? It was almost like the little community they had set up here was drawing more of them out, like the dead needed to always have the living in their sights.

It wasn't making her feel particularly good about her current situation. She wondered if she might be safer on her own, away from Hoyt and Josh, away from the walker-attracting group of individuals living inside the prison.

Maybe she should leave, continue her search for Cat and Hank.

Footsteps made their way across the courtyard and she stiffened, strained her ears to listen if she could tell where they were headed. When it became obvious they were growing closer to her she whipped her head around quickly, eyes wide and fearful that Hoyt had come for her again.

"Easy." Daryl grunted, squinting at her.

The sun was just beginning to rise but they were still shrouded in grey light for the time being. She could see a pack of cigarettes in one of his hands, his crossbow on his back.

He came to a stop on her left side and offered the pack to her wordlessly.

She shook her head. "I don't smoke."

That earned her a snort and she watched as he pulled one cigarette out for himself, lighting it and then shoving the pack and lighter back in his pocket.

"Don't look the type, anyhow." He grumbled around the white stick.

"What's that supposed to mean?" demanded Thea.

He shrugged and blew a puff of smoke out of the side of his mouth, cigarette held between his thumb and forefinger.

"Just don't look like the type o' girl who smokes."

She wondered what type of girls she _did_ look like. "Then why did you offer?"

Daryl's eye flickered to her face for a long second or two. "Looked like you could use one."

She stared back at him with furrowed brows, wondering just what was going on in his head, then her eyes flickered to the weapon he carried.

"You going out?" she asked, changing the subject and returning her gaze to the fence line.

She could feel his eyes on her still, studying her. It didn't make her skin crawl the way Hoyt's eyes did, but it did send a shiver up her spine. She wondered why.

Finally he gave a grunt and looked away. "Gonna see if I can find any deer."

He wasn't much of a talker, obviously, and this was the longest conversation she had ever had with him. The first time they had been alone since that run when they'd found the Decatur group. She was surprised to find things weren't as awkward as she expected them to be.

Lifting her hand to tuck her hair behind her ear, she responded. "Squirrels not doing it for you anymore?" she teased.

He scoffed and flicked the ash off his cigarette, taking another drag and then tossing the remaining butt to the ground to stomp it out.

"Got more mouths to feed is all."

Short and to the point. She began to wonder how anyone held conversations with him for longer than a few minutes.

And then she wished he hadn't stopped by her side at all as he faced her again and she could feel him stiffen.

"The hell is that?" he asked, voice darker.

She realized her mistake then, tucking her hair back on the left side, the side he stood on. He had seen her bruise, and though it was now about a day or two from fading away completely it was still obvious in the morning light that something had impacted her temple hard.

She didn't have the courage to move to cover it with her hair.

"Nothing." She commented, tried to act nonchalant.

He studied her for several long seconds. Seconds that seemed to drag on and on forever before she met his blue gaze with her hazel eyes.

"Don't look like nothing," He spoke in a tone softer than she thought was possible for him.

"It is nothing." She assured him quickly.

He was an incredibly perceptive man, another reason why she was curious about his life before the turn, and she could tell that he could see right through the bullshit she was feeding him. She thought he might call her out, but in the end he made a small grunt in his throat and turned away from her.

He walked away from the bleachers without another word, making his way out of the gate and into the guard tower just outside it where Carol was on watch.

She wondered if that would be the end of the discussion or if he had more to say.

* * *

She must have sat for a good long while after that just staring at the walkers on the fences because the door to C Block opened and startled her back into reality and she realized it was daylight outside and Rick and Carl were emerging from the cell block to head down to work on the crops and feed the pigs.

The older of the two sent his son down before him and came to stand in front of Thea.

"Maggie tells me you've been acting strange." He commented casually.

Thea huffed in frustration, a laugh escaping her lips. She was really starting to regret letting her anger lead to confessing to Maggie what had happened; she was not going to let this go was she?

"Daryl said you've got a nasty bruise on your head. Mind if I take a look?"

When the hell had Daryl gone back inside long enough to inform Rick of what he saw? She growled and stood, moving off the bleachers and onto the court. "Jesus Christ," she exclaimed, keeping her distance from the former sheriff. "It's nothing, I fell and hit my head on one of the shelves in the library that night when I went to read. When Ty took over my watch." She lied.

He saw right through it, he was a cop after all and more than likely had heard every excuse in the book for unexplained injuries.

"Daryl says different."

"Daryl doesn't know shit!"

They were both surprised by her outburst, and she took a few deep breaths to calm herself as she noticed Carol approaching from where she had just exited the guard tower.

"What's going on?" she asked curiously, eyeing Thea suspiciously.

The doctor didn't need this. Didn't need an audience with a council-member and a farmer. She turned and made her way back into the cell block and up to her cell, hell bent on ignoring four specific people for the rest of the day.

* * *

She only managed to avoid interacting with anyone for a few hours. Hours she spent sleeping in her bunk until she was suddenly pulled from sleep by shouting. She frowned and tried to roll over to ignore whatever was going on, but soon she heard her name being called.

"Thea! We need Thea!" a voice exclaimed from the main floor, followed by feet pounding on the steel stairs and towards her room.

She sprung off the bottom bunk before they reached her and flung the sheet to the side just as Carl came skidding to a stop outside her cell.

His eyes were wide and he looked frantically at her, fear evident on his face.

"What's going on?" She demanded to know, her own eyes widening.

Carl shook his head and waved his hand at her to follow him, turning to run back towards the stairs. "We have to hurry!"

"Shit." She muttered, following after him as fast as she could. Her ribs protested at the sudden movement but she kept moving until she was down the stairs.

Carl didn't stop in any of the cells, instead running around to the entrance to the tombs. He led her through the dark hallways, still not bothering to explain even when she shouted at him to talk to her.

Eventually they entered the showers and she could see four or five people gathered around someone on the tile floor, all murmuring worriedly and relieved to see her. They parted like the red sea when she approached and she froze in her tracks at what lay before her.

Laying on the tile, blood pooling around his body and spurting from a gaping wound in his neck was Josh. His eyes were wide and blinking as he gurgled on his own blood.

She couldn't move. She studied him for a long couple of seconds and spotted the straight razor that lay nearby. It looked like someone had sliced his carotid artery and part of her wanted to let him bleed out right there for his part in the library incident.

One of the survivors who lived in D Block, her name Thea couldn't remember, yelled for her to do something and she jumped into action.

Kneeling beside Josh she quickly wrapped her hands around the right side of his neck to apply pressure to the wound. Blood coated her hands and she could feel it seeping through her jeans where she had landing in it.

"Someone get some towels!" She yelled, her hands obviously not helping much.

Carl shoved a couple of white terry cloth towels at her and she grabbed one to press against the wound, watching as it became stained red.

"Carl, I need you to run and grab the first aid kit from my bunk, okay? Run as fast as you can. Go, now!" she instructed.

The young boy ran from the room and she turned her eyes back to the wound, pressed a second towel down on top of the first. It wasn't helping and Josh was growing pale as he lost more and more blood.

"Okay," She whispered to herself before quickly removing the towels. She leaned over his torso to get a proper look at what she was dealing with and could see the artery pumping in his neck, spilling pint after pint onto the dark tile.

The young boy whimpered in pain, his eyes filling with tears as he stared up at her with desperation.

She couldn't tell if he was begging to be saved or for her to let him go.

Reaching into his neck, she used two fingers to pinch the carotid together and control the bleeding as much as she could. She needed Carl to get back and fast or else this kid was going to die in a dirty prison shower. He may have had a hand in attacking her, but looking into his eyes now she felt her anger at him dissipate.

He was a _kid._

She lost her grip on the artery suddenly and he sputtered, coughing blood up out of his mouth. It streaked down his jaw and down over his ear as she reclaimed her hold over the wound.

A hand gripped the front of her shirt and she realized it was Josh's. He tugged at her shirt weakly and his mouth opened and closed a few times like a fish out of water. Tears spilled out of his eyes.

"I-" he coughed, eyes locked on hers. "I-I'm…s-ss-ory."

Thea was surprised to feel her own eyes well up and she shook her head frantically, shushing him gently.

"It's o- _kay_." Her voice cracked and she saw one of her tears land on the bridge of his nose and roll off. She had hated him for weeks, furiously tried to figure out just why he had been a part of something so terrible, but now as he lay dying in front of her she could see that he was just a scared little kid.

Her heart broke.

His eyes held hers and he looked so terrified, but then he seemed to come to terms with what was about to happen.

What was _happening_.

And then she felt the pulse in his neck slow to only a beat every few seconds. As the beats lessened to nothing she saw his pupils dilate and one final, ragged breath escaped his lips. He was gone.

She didn't move, her hands still sunk into the hole in his neck as if it were helping anything. She stared at his young face, the face that had previously played a part in her nightmares, and let out the breath she had not realized she was holding in.

Carl's feet sounded on the tile and he came back into the room with the first aid kit and a few others in tow, including his father.

"Here!" the kid said, holding the kit out to her.

She didn't move as one of the women who had been here when she arrived told the others Josh was dead in between sobs. She sighed slowly then and pulled her hands off of the fatal wound. They were coated in red, sticky mess and Thea used her forearm to brush her hair out of her face as her hands shook.

"What the hell happened?" She asked, eyes turning up to the group.

The sobbing woman wiped her face and spoke in fragments. "He said…he said he was…tired of feeling guilty." She stammered.

"Guilty 'bout what?" Daryl chimed in from where he stood behind Rick, squinting at the woman.

Thea hadn't realized he was there and she took the moment to see who else had followed the younger Grimes. Herschel, Glenn, Dr. S, and Sasha were gathered in the entrance to the showers.

The woman shook her head. "He wouldn't say. I followed him, but I couldn't stop him before he—" She cut off in a sob again.

Thea had a few guesses.

She stood slowly. "Someone needs to take care of the body before he turns." She said softly and moved over to one of the shower heads.

She worked the pump a few times and then put her hands under the spray of water to wash away Josh's blood before grabbing a towel to dry them off.

And then she turned and slipped through group silently, walking the hallways back to C Block and then back up to her cell.

* * *

A few hours later Karen came knocking on the wall just beside her cell, two plates in her hands.

The group had cooked up the deer Daryl had brought back from his hunt, having returned just before the incident in the showers. Thea hadn't bothered to come down for dinner when Beth had come to tell her they were all eating. She was still trying to figure out just what the hell had happened today.

Had she really forgiven Josh for his part in the attack or was she simply trying to make his final moments easier?

Why did it seem to affect her so much that he had killed himself over the guilt of what he had done?

"Hey, you must be starving." Karen spoke, moving to sit beside her on the bottom bunk and handing over one of the plates.

Thea's stomach growled in response as she smelled the venison and caught sight of the vegetables that were on the plate with it. "Thank you." She replied softly, picking up a piece of meet with her fingers and stuffing it into her mouth.

They ate silently for several minutes before Karen finally spoke.

"Was it Josh?"

For a second Thea wondered what she meant by that; by now the entire prison knew that it was Josh who had died. She hadn't told her friend _who_ had been involved in the library, but clearly Karen had put it together.

"He didn't…he didn't _do_ anything other than hold me down." She replied quietly, staring at the wall across from them.

The darker haired woman shook her head and turned her body to face Thea, one leg tucked underneath her while the other hung off the cot.

"You have to tell someone, Thea. If not the council then Rick, he was a cop."

She was quick to shake her own head. "No, no, Kar—"

"—Josh killed himself but there is still one other person in this prison who has done horrible things. What if he has done this to other women? What if he is going to do this to someone else?"

Thea's heart raced at the thought that Hoyt had gotten his hands on anyone else. There were quite a few female survivors in the prison and with quarters so close it wouldn't be hard for him to scope out other victims. Add in the fact that there were plenty of places he could drag an unsuspecting girl for the attack and she could literally feel her blood pressure sky rocket.

She should tell Rick.

God, she felt so selfish for only thinking about herself. She had let this thing take over her life and now she was forced to come to terms with the fact that if she did nothing Hoyt would think it was okay to do this type of thing for however long he stayed at the prison.

But how exactly was she supposed to tell Rick when saying the words out loud made her want to vomit?

And was she ready to be seen as the victim she knew everyone would treat her as?

She decided she would have to be.

* * *

The next morning she got up early with the sun and gone to take a quick shower. She pulled on a pair of jeans and a tank top, which she covered up with an open flannel shirt so that no one could tell she had wrapped up her ribs, and slid her feet into her sneakers.

By the time she was ready most of the cell block had woken up and the group that was heading out for the run to the Big Spot, as Karen had informed her last night, had begun packing up the vehicles they were taking.

On her way down from her cell Dr. S came over with a folded piece of paper in his hand.

"Here's the list of meds we made, thought you might want to add anything your stash needs and then you could pass it on to Daryl?"

Nodding, she took the paper and unraveled it to see what had already been written. She was quick to grab a pencil from a nearby table and add some pain meds before folding the paper once more and heading for the courtyard.

Daryl was standing by his motorcycle and she could see Sasha and Bob talking by the green Hyundai. The silver truck Glenn often drove was parked behind them and Glenn, Tyreese, and Zach were busy loading things into each vehicle.

Thea made her way across the courtyard and stopped on the side of the bike Daryl wasn't standing on, hand holding the paper outstretched.

"Hey, here's the list of stuff Dr. S and Herschel made. We were hoping you guys could keep a look out for some meds and other stuff?"

She felt weird talking to him after the conversation they'd had the other night by the bleachers, but if he felt the same awkwardness he didn't show it.

He grunted and glanced at the paper but made no move to take it.

"Or you could come with us and look for yourself." He grumbled, squinting through the sun to look at her.

She thought for a moment about how she shouldn't be overexerting herself until her ribs were properly healed, about how she had promised Karen she would talk to Rick today, and then decided that it wouldn't hurt anything to hold off on that for another day.

She was good at avoiding things.

"Yeah, okay. Let me get my stuff." She agreed, stuffing the paper in her pocket and heading back for the cell block to get her pack and axe.

This probably wasn't a good idea, but it was better than staying at the prison with Hoyt leering at her at every turn.

She would talk to Rick tomorrow.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! I really do like writing these little chapters that delve into Thea's psyche after the attack and I hope you like reading them. On to the action though! Next chapter will feature the run to the Big Spot, Zach's death, and more!**

 **Also I saw Captain America: Civil War on Thursday night and it was phenomenal so I recommend checking it out if you haven't! I have been working on an Avengers fanfic for about five years now and after the movie I was feeling really inspired to work more on that. Would any of you be interested in reading an Avengers fic if I were to getting it cleaned up and post chapters on here?**

 **As usual, I'd love to hear what you thought of this chapter and thank you for reading! :)**


	7. Guilt and Denial

**A/N: Here we are with chapter seven! Thea and the gang are off to the Big Spot! and we all know how that will end!**

 **This chapter was a bit of a struggle for me simply because I didn't have a lot of time this week to work on it so the ending could have been better. I apologize in advance if it bores you a little.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

When they made it to the Big Spot! Thea could see that the army had tried to put up some kind of refuge for civilians, a refuge that had obviously gone to shit.

The front of the store was surrounded by tall chain-link fences and inside those fences she could see green army tents set up. There were crates overturned or busted open littering the area and she could see into one of the tents enough to spot overturned cots.

Clearly they had tried to create a makeshift medical bay, hopefully there would be some supplies left over.

"Army came in and put these fences up," Daryl was explaining to Bob as if it weren't obvious. "Made it a place for the people to go. Last week when we spotted this place, there was a bunch of walkers behind this chain-link keeping people out like a bunch of guard dogs."

Thea squinted at a portion of the fence that appeared to be cut open. Bits of decaying flesh hung on the ragged ends of broken chain-link as if walkers had squeezed through and gotten caught along the way.

"So they all just left?" Bob asked.

Sasha, who stood behind the two men with a rifle in hand, sighed. "Give a listen."

Thea strained her ears to figure out what the woman meant, and then she heard it. Music was playing loudly in the distance but she wasn't quite sure where it was coming from.

"You drew them out." Michonne commented, impressed.

Sasha smirked, clearly pleased with herself. "Put a boom box out there three days ago."

"Hooked it up to two car batteries." Glenn added.

Thea had to admit that she would have never thought about that. Guess that was why she wasn't in charge of runs.

Daryl grunted as if to say that he was tired of all the talking and then moved to squeeze through the hole in the fence.

"All right, let's make a sweep. Make sure it's safe." He instructed. "Grab what you can. We'll come back tomorrow with more people."

Bob followed after him and then Sasha, Tyreese, Michonne, and Zach. Glenn waved Thea in front of him and she did her best to hide the wince that pulled at her features when twisting her body to fit through the hole without slicing herself on the ends covered with walker blood shot pain up her side.

She made her way into one of the tents to check for anything that could be useful, but all that she could find was the cots and a few knocked over stands that doctors would hang IV drips from. They had clearly used all the supplies before whatever had happened here turned everyone into the dead.

Not that it appeared that they had much to begin with.

She didn't bother checking the other tents as the rest of the group were doing that, instead she moved to join Daryl, Zach, and Michonne where they were waiting by the front of the store.

The two men were seated on the small ledge-like window sill while Michonne leaned against a pillar by the door. Thea crossed her arms over her chest and stood off to the side, keeping her distance but close enough to listen to their conversation.

"I've been trying to guess what Daryl did before the turn," Zach was explaining to the katana wielder.

This was something that perked Thea up; she'd been wondering this herself for a while.

Daryl scoffed. "He's been tryin' to guess for, like, six weeks."

The younger man shrugged. "Yeah, I'm pacing myself. One shot a day."

"All right, shoot."

There was a moment as Zach paused to gather his thoughts and then he was off. "Well, the way you are at the prison, you being on the council, you're able to track, you're helping people but you're still being kind of…uh…surly. Big swing here." He paused for dramatic effect. "Homicide cop."

Michonne burst out laughing in an uncharacteristic manner, at least uncharacteristic by Thea's standards since she hadn't seen the woman laugh much, and Daryl glared in her direction.

"What's so funny?" He demanded to know.

Michonne didn't lose her smile as she responded. "Nothing. It makes perfect sense."

Daryl shrugged. "Actually, the man's right. Undercover."

The blond man was suddenly very pleased with himself. "C'mon, really?" he asked, excited that he may have figured it out.

"Yep. I mean, I don't like to talk about it 'cause it was a lot of heavy shit, you know?" Daryl said in an almost believable tone, looking away from them as if just admitting this brought back memories he didn't want to recall.

Thea wasn't believing this for a second.

"Dude, come on, really?" Zach replied in disbelief.

The dark haired man turned and just looked at him blankly for a few seconds before looking down at his crossbow in his lap and clearing his throat. As he adjusted his grip on the weapon, Zach snorted.

"Okay, I'll just keep guessing, I guess."

"Yeah, you keep doing that."

"Mm-hmm."

Thea shook her head at the two of them. She had never considered them friends, but it was clear that they got along pretty well.

They were all silent for a moment before Zach seemed to turn the tables on the Brit.

"You were a doctor, right?" he asked her suddenly.

She nodded and shifted uncomfortably, not really enjoying that all eyes had turned towards her.

Zach didn't seem to notice her reaction. "What's the grossest thing you ever saw?" He wondered.

As Thea opened her mouth to respond two walkers suddenly slammed against the glass windows behind Daryl and Zach, causing the latter to startle. The former simply stood like nothing had happened.

"We gonna do this, detective?" Michonne asked him.

"Let's do it."

Thea gripped her axe anxiously as the two moved to open the once automatic doors. It had been over a month since she had left the prison, over a month since she had even been face-to-face with a walker. She had never gone down to the fences to help put down the walkers accumulated there, the council having decided that a doctor shouldn't do something that might put them in harm's way.

It kind of sucked to be considered valuable these days.

Daryl and Michonne wretched open the glass doors and several walkers spilled out, immediately being taken down by either crossbow or katana. As the rest of the group joined them at the entrance, several more walkers came from inside the store.

Tyreese quickly helped dispatch them before any could get very far, and Thea only felt a small amount of relief at being spared the duty of putting any down.

Zach and Tyreese pulled the bodies off to the side as Sasha turned to face everyone.

"All right, we go in, stay in formation for the sweep. After that, you all know what you're supposed to look for. Thea, you're handling the meds, right?"

Thea nodded once.

Sasha returned the nod and then glance at the others. "Any questions?"

No one spoke up and Daryl stepped into the store, followed by Michonne and Glenn.

"Was there ever a time that you weren't the boss of me?" Thea heard Tyreese ask his sister.

"You had a few years before I was born." The woman replied smugly.

* * *

Thankfully there hadn't been any walkers straggling behind in the store and so they were able to begin their search for supplies without any problems arising.

Thea picked up one of those plastic, hand-held baskets and moved through the aisles towards the section beneath a sign that read _'Toiletries & More'_ in hopes that any first aid supplies would be there as well. Everyone else spread out through the store to find the things on their lists, most pushing shopping carts with them.

It was odd being in a store and hearing the carts being pushed around, almost like things weren't as bad as they were and this was a normal shopping trip. All they needed now was catchy shop music to play softly over the forgotten speakers.

She felt a sigh of relief escape her as she caught sight of an entire shelf of first aid supplies ranging from cotton swabs to bottles of peroxide to ACE bandages. Her ease was short lived though, as there didn't appear to be any medicine of any kind. Not even crappy generic brand painkillers.

They couldn't always get lucky though, so she really shouldn't let this bother her so much.

As she began to throw as many items as possible into her basket, grabbing even the stuff they didn't necessarily need, she began to wish she had grabbed an actual push cart instead. And just as she was debating whether or not to go back to the front of the store to grab one she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

She could hear footsteps approaching her from behind and suddenly she was alone in that dark library again, her heart pounding in her chest rapidly and her palms becoming sweaty. Her breath caught in her throat.

"Find anything good?" a male voice asked suddenly, startling her.

She jumped and the basket fell to the floor with a loud clatter, the contents spilling out across the tile. She spun quickly and was faced with Tyreese's large form looming over her, and though she knew the man would never hurt her she still flinched as he raised a hand out to steady her.

Upon seeing her reaction he stopped short and furrowed his brow. "You okay? I didn't mean to scare you."

Thea wondered if Karen had told him anything. She quickly realized that her friend wouldn't do that.

"Yeah, sorry," she brushed it off with a forced laugh, tucking the right side of her hair behind her ear. "I'm just a little jumpy, is all. It's been a while since I left the prison."

He stared at her for a moment before it finally looked like he believed her and then he squatted to pick up her basket and the things she had put in it.

"I get it; it's been a while since I left too. Sorry for sneaking up on you." He apologized with a kind smile.

Just as she was about to stoop to help him a loud crash broke through the silence, accompanied by the sound of glass smashing on the floor and a pained scream.

Tyreese shot to his feet, trusty hammer at the ready, and peered over the shelves. "The hell was that?" he wondered aloud before glancing her way. "Stay here."

Before she could protest he was making his way down the aisle and disappearing around the corner, and she was alone again unsure if they were being attacked by walkers or if it had just been an accident.

"What happened?" She heard Glenn yell from across the store.

Zach called back a few seconds later. "Everyone's all right. We're over in _Wine & Beer_."

The Brit felt a moment of assuagement before it all went to shit.

A walker suddenly hurtled down through the ceiling and hung there from its entrails, snapping at them and trying to reach out as if he had impossibly long arms that could indeed grab one of them below.

"Yeah, uh, we should probably go now." She heard Glenn declare, something she couldn't agree more with.

Forgetting the items still scattered on the floor beneath her she grabbed her axe and turned for the entrance.

"Bob's still stuck, get him out of there!" yelled Daryl, followed by a response that she couldn't make out.

She hadn't made it four steps before walkers began raining through the ceiling.

* * *

" _You sure this is a good idea? If Dr. Montagne catches us we're going to be in deep shit. Do I look like I want to be doing SCUT for the next month?" Larissa Johnson rambled as she followed Thea into the observation room that overlooked the operating room._

 _The chairs in the observation room were usually full of other surgeons and interns dying to get a peek at an interesting surgery, but today they were empty. Down below Dr. Montagne was in the middle of operating on a prominent member of society, what the patient did had not been disclosed to anyone who wouldn't be in the OR with the doctor and that had only made Thea all the more curious._

" _Don't be such a wuss, Lar." Thea whispered, planting herself in one of the chairs in the very back row. "If we leave the light off he'll never know we're here."_

 _The blonde intern sighed wearily before sinking into the chair beside her friend and turning her attention to the OR below._

 _Thea was annoyed to find that the patient's face was covered to preserve his privacy, but that annoyance quickly disappeared as she realized Dr. Montagne had just made his incision in the scalp._

 _He pulled the scalp forward to reveal the white skull beneath, which the camera positioned behind the table displayed on a large monitor, and Thea held her breath in anticipation._

 _A section of skull was cut and removed. Thea's heart was racing and she felt her eyes on the verge of welling up with tears at the sight before her. She had seen a human brain before in medical school, but the brains she had seen were all from cadavers. Now before her was a fully functioning and_ living _brain and she couldn't help but be amazed at the beauty of it. It really was astonishing to think that Dr. Montagne had just opened someone's head and their entire life was sitting before them._

 _It amazed her how doctors could see every part of a person, literally._

 _She vaguely registered Larissa complimenting the doctor's technique but she found she couldn't tear her attention away from the monitor._

 _The human brain was a beautiful thing._

* * *

A walker crashed through the ceiling and landed right in front of her, mushy skull splitting open and rotting brains splattering on the tile.

She moved around it quickly in a panic, praying silently that a dead one didn't land right on top of her and turn her into a flapjack. Almost on cue another one came through right in front of her, this one landing on a stack of boxes that broke its fall.

It stood and moved towards her with an animalistic growl and arms outstretched, and she raised her axe quickly to swing it into the beast's head. It connected with a squish and her ribs protested loudly. She couldn't pull the axe from the walker as it fell and she went down with it, one hand gripping her side as she hissed in pain.

"Shit." She cried out, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment before a growl from nearby drew her attention back to the matter at hand.

A walker in a tattered sundress was shambling forward and she still couldn't pull her axe from the other one's head. She stepped on its chest to give herself some leverage and yanked with all her might, only for the axe to come free and the momentum sent her flying backwards into a display of toilet paper.

Her ribcage connected hard with the crate the bathroom tissue was on and she couldn't hold back the shout of pain that bubbled up her throat.

The female walker's arms outstretched towards her but a second later its head exploded as a shot rang out. Decaying brains sprayed the shelf behind it and then it was slumping to the ground in a heap.

Thea whipped her head around to see who had taken the walker down and found Daryl standing on top of a several cases of beer stacked nearby with his gun pointed in her direction despite the three walkers that were trying to get at him from below.

She didn't have time to thank him, instead getting to her feet as quickly as she could with her ribs throbbing and grabbing her axe from where it had landed.

Everything was moving so fast then, she remembered hearing blood curdling screams but not knowing who they belonged to. Sasha's hand had grabbed her forearm roughly and dragged her from the store as a helicopter began to come through the holey roof.

She didn't get to see who hadn't made it out before Sasha shoved her in the green Hyundai. Glenn, Tyreese, and Bob got in with them and they were speeding away from the Big Spot! before the ruckus drew more of the living dead.

Guess they wouldn't be back tomorrow after all.

* * *

They drove for several miles in silence, the entire time Thea kept glancing in the side mirror to see if she could figure out who was in the truck behind them, who had made it out and who hadn't.

She wondered what had caused the run to go downhill. What was the initial crash that had drawn the attention of the walkers on the roof?

Most importantly, how many of them had been lost to either flesh eaters or the helicopter that collapsed through the ceiling?

A mile later the Hyundai slowed to a stop on the side of the road and Sasha jumped from the vehicle with a slam of the door. The truck was coming to a stop behind them and as Thea opened up her own door she heard the rumble of Daryl's motorcycle as he came up beside the cars.

She stayed on the passenger side of the Hyundai and peered over the hood to see who was exiting the silver truck, her hand pressed tightly against her side. There was no hiding that she was in pain now; she had probably made her ribs worse.

Glenn and Michonne were the only two in the truck which meant that they'd lost Zach. Thea twisted her head to see if he would miraculously come out of thin air but it was no use. Those screams had been his and he was gone.

"What the hell happened back there?" Sasha demanded as they gathered by Daryl's bike.

Thea wanted to know too but she kept her distance not wanting to draw any attention to her injuries.

Bob looked down with shame. "I ran my cart into a shelf of wine. It came down on me, must have alerted the walkers on the roof that we were in there."

How had he managed to ram into an entire shelf? It seemed like the type of thing that happened in a Three Stooges movie or something, and Thea felt her skepticism grow.

"And Zach?" Michonne added.

Bob didn't answer, the guilt on his face growing exponentially.

Daryl shook his head once. "Helped pull Bob out and then a walker took him down."

That wasn't a nice way for anyone to go, torn to shreds by teeth and hands. She sighed softly, resting her head against the hood of the Hyundai.

As she stood there with her adrenaline wearing off she started to really feel the damage to her ribs and she let out a ragged breath to mask the whimper. Apparently not too well.

"Thea? You okay?" Glenn was suddenly asking her, having heard her and spotted her hunkered over the vehicle.

She lifted her head quickly and waved them off. "I'm fine." She lied.

They didn't believe her and Sasha stepped forward. "What's wrong with your side? Did you get bit?" she demanded to know.

Thea wondered who had put her in charge.

At the mention of a possible bite she noticed everyone stiffen, hands inched closer to weapons.

"No, it's not a bite!" She quickly reassured them. "I just…I fell wrong. Think I might have cracked a rib or two." She could use this to her advantage, act like she had been perfectly fine prior to the run and avoid having to explain the real reason for her injury.

Tyreese moved to her side and she tried with all her might not to flinch away as he wrapped one arm around her shoulders and gripped her upper arm with the other, almost like he was supporting her. He seemed oblivious to the fact that it made her extremely uncomfortable.

"We should get her back to the prison so Herschel or Dr. S can take a look at her." He stated as if it weren't obvious.

Thea huffed at him, shrinking out of his embrace. "I'm a doctor, you know. I'm more than capable of taking care of myself." She grumbled even as pain shot through her.

Sasha rolled her eyes hard and let out a frustrated sound. "We don't have time for this. You don't want our help that's fine, I'm not going to stand around and argue about it. Let's move out."

* * *

Returning to the prison without supplies, good news, and one member short hadn't been very fun. And even less fun was having to explain to Herschel the situation with her ribs because Tyreese absolutely was not going to let her get off easy with it. Luckily for her Herschel had agreed to let Maggie help Thea wrap them, so she didn't have to explain to anyone why she _already had an ACE bandaged wrapped tightly around herself._ That probably wouldn't have gone well for her.

As the older Greene daughter finished tightly securing the bandage Thea realized that there was something palpable in the air. It wasn't really relief but that seemed to be the only word she could describe it as.

"I'm not pregnant," Maggie spoke up as if she could read Thea's mind.

The doctor lowered her shirt back down and turned to face the farmer's daughter.

"That's good news, right?" She asked, still unsure what Maggie had wanted the outcome to be.

Maggie set down the tape she had used to secure Thea's bandage and shrugged her shoulders. She didn't seem sad, but there wasn't a smile on her face either. "It wouldn't have been a bad thing…"

She trailed off and moved towards the door but stopped before she could leave. "You shouldn't have gone out there today. You knew what condition you were in and you went anyways. You might not have made it back."

She disappeared before Thea could respond and she sighed heavily. She sure was glad that people weren't afraid to tell her how they really felt; it was only adding to the idea of leaving for good.

Thea turned and grabbed her bag of toiletries from the table, then made her way out of the cell block and down the tombs towards the showers. She needed to wash her face and then turn in for the night, hopefully she could avoid another verbal lashing from another survivor.

The showers were thankfully empty and she moved to the makeshift sink, pumping water into the bowl and brushing her hair back out of her face long enough to splash some cold water on her skin. She used the small bit of the bar of soap she had left to scrub at her face before rinsing and then grabbing a towel to pat dry.

As she hung the towel over her shoulder, grabbed her bag, and turned to exit the shower block she gasped loudly and stumbled backwards into the sink as she caught sight of Daryl leaning against the doorframe almost casually.

"How long have you been standing there?" she asked, her eyes narrowing at him.

He avoided the question in usual Daryl fashion. "You didn't hurt yourself on the run today."

It wasn't a question and they both knew he was right. She wouldn't admit that though.

"Oh yeah? What makes you think that?" she retorted in an attempt to stand her ground.

He was squinting at her like he always did. She wondered if he needed to get his eyes checked.

"Ain't stupid. You been hurt for a couple o' weeks now."

She was silent for a long moment and he continued.

"Seen the bruises, seen the way you been avoiding people. Something happened."

Thea scoffed. She had been on the receiving end of more than enough lectures today and she wasn't about to stand her for another. Stepping towards the door slowly she held her head high.

"You sure Zach wasn't right about you? You seem to be pretty keen on the goings on around here, _Detective Dixon_." She ground out in annoyance.

It was a low blow bringing up the friend Daryl had just lost but she was trying to get out of here as fast as possible. She stopped in the doorway but kept a decent amount of space between them.

"You stick to hunting deer, you're better at that."

The words came out in a growl and she didn't wait to see how he might respond before slipping into the tombs and back towards the cells for some much needed rest.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! I think it's safe to say that Sasha is not a fan of Thea and Thea is not that much a fan of Daryl at this point.**

 **The next chapter will be episode 4x02: Infected!**

 **As usual, I'd love to hear what you thought of this chapter and thank you for reading! :)**


	8. Tomorrow Is Gonna Be Better

**A/N: Chapter eight!**

 **I hope you guys like the way I did episode 4x02! Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

 _It was hot. Unbearably hot. It had been growing hotter by the day now, meaning it was probably mid-summer and it was only going to get hotter for a while before autumn finally saved her._

 _She had been alone for two weeks now; there still wasn't a single sign of Catherine and Henry or a trail she could follow. She feared that they might be dead, and she had cried more than a few times thinking about what had happened to them._

 _Before the world had ended she had been content to the single life. She never really had time for relationships with medical school and then her internship, and so she would spend most days either at the hospital or at home sleeping it off. The last serious relationship she had was in her first year of university and since then she'd had a few one-nighters but nothing more._

 _So she was pretty used to being alone, but at least before she knew there were people around. Nowadays she feared that she would never see another human being again._

 _As if it was summoned by that very thought one of the infected appeared several yards ahead of her on the hiking trail she'd been following. It wore a pair of green overalls and a loud clinking noise came from the bear trap that was snapped closed around one ankle, which the dead man had to drag behind with a limp._

 _The creature was far enough ahead that it didn't see her and she simply slipped silently off the trail and into the trees, trying her best to avoid stepping on any twigs or rustling any leaves._

 _It had become a motto of hers not to kill any of those things unless she had no other choice and so far it hadn't been an issue. Her sister had surprisingly advocated for killing them, explaining that it could be seen as putting them out of their misery, but now that Thea was on her own she didn't want to put herself in any situations she couldn't get out of._

 _She didn't have anyone to watch her back anymore._

 _Her head was beginning to hurt from a combination of the heat and a lack of water and as she trumped through the trees she prayed that she might stumble across a stream to restock her supply. Maybe she could catch some fish. Not that she_ knew _how to do that without an actual pole and bait from a tackle shop._

 _Pulling her backpack off her shoulders she crouched down and unzipped the large pocket. There was only a few sips left in her water bottle and she sighed heavily before downing it. It did little to quench her thirst._

 _She wiped the sweat from her brow and glanced at the woods around her, never feeling more alone._

 _A voice suddenly broke the almost peaceful silence from behind her. "Let me see your hands."_

Oh god. Oh god. _She thought to herself as she dropped the empty bottle back into her pack and slowly raised her hands above her head. This couldn't be good._

 _The leaves on the ground rustled as the newcomer came into view with a shotgun pointed directly at her face. He looked to be in his mid-to-late forties with salt-and-pepper hair that had been buzzed off but now appeared to be growing back. His eyes were the color of amber, his face didn't look particularly mean; he looked like someone who was just trying to survive, just like her._

" _What's your name?" He asked, gaze and gun unwavering._

" _Thea." She responded quickly, her heart pounded in her chest and her hands began to shake._

 _He stopped once he was directly in front of her. "Are you alone or is your boyfriend gonna come back and shoot me?"_

 _The gun in her face kept her from lying. "I'm alone…"_

 _The man studied her for several long moments before nodding. The gesture wasn't at her, instead his gaze had moved above her head and she realized that he must have a friend with him._

 _She was outnumbered._

 _A woman came into view and Thea had to suppress her gasp at her appearance. She appeared to be about seven months pregnant._

" _You can understand why we have to be cautious." The man commented as he noticed her stare._

 _Thea did understand. When she had been with her sister and nephew she would have done the same thing this man was doing to protect them. She didn't blame him for protecting his family. Wished she could have done the same for hers._

" _You got any food?" The woman asked in a thick southern accent, a look of desperation in her eyes._

 _She had a few sticks of jerky in her pack and while she didn't want to give all of them to the couple, the doctor in her refused to let the expecting mother starve. She nodded once and slowly lowered her hands to dig into the pocket of her bag. Producing two sticks of jerky she held them out to the two in front of her and hoped that would be the end of it._

 _The pregnant woman looked ravenous at the sight of food and took one of the sticks, quickly biting a huge chunk of it and chewing loudly. The man was slower to take the other stick, but he didn't eat it and instead offered it to the woman._

" _What's your name?" Thea asked boldly._

 _For a second it didn't appear that he would answer her. "Frank. This is Deborah."_

 _Deborah was finished with the first stick now and took the second from Frank more calmly. She didn't bite into it yet. "This is Robert. Namin' him after my daddy." She said, rubbing her stomach proudly._

 _Thea smiled softly and felt her tense muscles ease. They seemed like nice people. The kind of people that you wanted to be with at the end of the world. Did they want company or were they simply here to steal her food? She guessed that she would find out soon enough._

 _Frank lowered his shotgun slowly, seeming a bit sheepish at the realization that he still had it pointed in her direction._

 _She rose slowly to her feet and slipped her bag back on her back. "I had a friend named Robert. A co-worker. He was really nice." It wasn't needed information, but maybe sharing something so trivial would gain their trust. Maybe they would like the rapport enough to let her tag along._

 _Deborah brightened at the small talk. She must have missed it. "Where did you work? Pretty thing like you, you were probably someone important."_

 _Thea didn't know how to take the comment so she simply smiled. "Yancey Memorial Hospital. In Richmond."_

 _Frank let out a whistle. "You're a long ways from Richmond, ain't you?"_

" _I was visiting my sister here when everything_ happened _."_

" _You a doctor or a nurse?" Deborah wondered._

 _There was hope in her gaze and her hand was resting over her belly, almost as if she were anxiously awaiting the answer to her prayers._

" _Doctor…surgeon…" She answered vaguely, not wanting to go into detail about the fact that she had_ only just _passed her boards and begun her residency._

 _Deborah's baby blue eyes brightened and she faced Frank with a hopeful expression. "You hear that, Frank? A real doctor right here in front of us!"_

" _I heard her, Deb, just calm down." Frank hushed her, not wanting to make a scene. His gaze turned back to Thea and he sighed heavily. "Look, I know we just met but we only got a couple o' months left and I don't know the slightest about birthing a baby. You're alone, you want to come with us?"_

 _Thea found herself trying to hide the excitement that bubbled up in her. The thought of not having to rely solely on her survival ability, which was sadly minimal, put her at ease just a little too much. People were rare these days, good people even more so. She couldn't pass up on an opportunity like this, even if they only wanted her for her medical expertise._

" _You know, that sounds like a good idea to me."_

* * *

She had been up for a few minutes when an alarm clock blared below and disrupted her thoughts. She knew it was Rick's alarm to wake up Carl for chores, and she sighed heavily as she grew more anxious. Karen had stormed into her bunk last night and demanded that she talk to Rick about the attack like she had promised.

" _Your story about hurting yourself on the run isn't going to hold up for long, you know. Eventually the truth will come out…wouldn't you rather it happen on your own accord?"_ She had all but hissed in the Brit's face before leaving.

She was right. If the survivors had to find out about the assault then she wanted it to be directly from her and not from anyone else. She wasn't sure if Karen had been threatening to tell The Council herself or if she had merely implied that someone would figure it out and tell, but either way she couldn't risk it. This was her responsibility.

She rose from her bunk gingerly her back popping unnaturally and she stood in front of the mirror for a second to flatten her hair back down a bit with her hands. Her ribs were still wrapped so she simply slipped her shoes back on and headed down to the lower level of the cell block.

By the time she got down there Rick was already gone, she could see Beth bouncing Judith on her hip down at the other end of the block and she sent her a friendly smile before heading towards the exit to the courtyard.

It was already very sunny out and she squinted into the light and moved across the old court. Carol was setting up the fire pit to cook breakfast and barely acknowledged her, something that had started after Thea's outburst about Daryl in this very courtyard that night Rick had confronted her. Thea wasn't particularly upset about the silent treatment.

Following the dirt path down towards the pigsty where father and son were feeding the swine she spotted Michonne leaving on horseback for yet another run. Where she went on these individual runs Thea wasn't sure, but the woman always returned a little more disheartened and it made the doctor curious.

"Mornin'." Rick called to her, dragging her attention back to the present. "How are you feeling?"

She tucked her hair behind her ear and shrugged. "I've been better," She paused as she watched Carl kick at a clump of mud and then finally mustered up the courage to set into motion the conversation that should have happened days ago. "I was hoping I could talk to you in private."

Both of the Grimes men turned their gazes her way curiously and she was struck with how similar they looked from the dark hair to the bright blue eyes. Finally Rick gave her a nod as he fished into the bucket he held for more of whatever he was feeding the pigs.

"Give me a minute?" he offered.

She didn't want to wait, wanted to get it over with like ripping off a band-aid, but she nodded anyway. "Yeah, no problem."

Stepping away to stand in the shade of the horse's stable, she crossed her arms over her chest and tried her best to act patient. When she heard the conversation between father and son resume she grew even more restless. When Carl asked Rick when he could have his gun back, she pretended to be interested in the crow that was pecking at the ground nearby.

"Worms will give'em some extra protein—"

A series of booms from within the prison interrupted Rick's sentence and Thea snapped her gaze from the crow. Those had been gunshots.

Rick was coming from the pen now with Carl following and he ushered her behind him too. "Stay close." He said in a low voice as Carl closed the pen up.

The door to Cell Block D burst open then and two little blonde girls, she knew them to be Lizzie and Mika, came running full speed into the courtyard. They were screaming for help.

Carol dropped the bowls she held and ran to their aid as Maggie called down from the guard tower.

"Cell blocks?" She asked Rick.

"I don't know!" The sheriff exclaimed before turning to his son and the doctor. "Get in the tower with Maggie. Don't argue, go!"

Thea wanted to argue, oh did she want to argue, but she knew if she didn't make sure Carl got to safety then Rick would probably never speak to her again. As the sheriff ran up towards the prison she ushered Carl ahead of her towards the guard tower Maggie was in.

She could hear shouting behind her as survivors from C-Block spilled out into the open with weapons. She heard Glenn shout about walkers in D-Block and her heart sunk. The majority of the children slept in those cells. _Karen_ slept in there.

A sharp whistle made her jump in surprise. Michonne was coming back on the horse and needed the gate open, Carl raced towards the gate to let her in and Thea followed as quickly as she could with her side protesting. As the young boy used his whole body to pull the rope that opened the makeshift gate, Michonne rode through and jumped down from the horse. Thea moved to grab the reins from her since she was more capable of running up into the prison than her and led the horse up the path.

A shot came from behind and stopped her in her tracks. She turned and peered over the horse's back in time to see Maggie helping Michonne to her feet and Carl holding one of the rifles they kept in the guard tower. The dark-skinned woman was limping as the other woman helped her move out of the way for Carl to pull the fence closed.

Dropping the reins Thea made her way back to the little group, her brow furrowed. "Your ankle?" She wasn't sure if it was the ankle of the knee that was bothering the katana wielder.

Michonne nodded, her face a mixture of pain and aggravation. She looked like she needed to see what was going on in the prison, not be injured herself. Thea realized that she felt the same.

Glancing around at the walkers that had gathered by the main fence having been attracted by the commotion they had caused, she sighed tiredly. The day had only just begun and yet here she was already feeling exhausted. She needed to get out of bed more.

"Let me take a look back up at the prison. We've attracted a few friends down here." She commented, indicating the dead that growled at them as if the others couldn't hear it themselves.

Maggie and Carl each took one of Michonne's arms to help her up the driveway and Thea trailed behind, one hand on her side as she glanced back to check that the horse had made it back into the main yard. It was grazing on some grass by the pig pen and she turned her attention back to the others in front of her.

Just as they were entering the courtyard she spotted Rick coming from D-Block. He looked more exhausted than she felt and she could see blood splattered on his skin and clothing.

Carl dropped Michonne's arm to run to his father—

"Hey, you might want to stay back. Carl."

-and despite the protesting from the sheriff the boy hugged him hard.

"Dad, I'm sorry. I didn't see you come out." The boy's voice was muffled but Thea could tell he was upset.

Rick hugged him briefly but then held him at an arm's length. "It's okay. I'm here. I'm fine. But back away."

The boy listened and moved backwards towards the three women, but he didn't move far from his father. "I had to use one of the guns by the gate. I swear I didn't want to." He sounded like he was begging his father to forgive him.

Thea wondered what the deal was with Rick and Carl and guns.

Michonne spoke up for the kid before Rick could say a word. "I was coming back, I fell. They came back and helped me."

The sheriff's eyes were on hers for a second before he noticed the way Maggie was supporting her. "You alright?" he asked, genuine concern on his face and in his voice. The only response he got was a nod.

"What happened in there?" Maggie finally asked the question Thea had been waiting to ask.

Before a word could be said a young blonde woman came from the cell block with tears streaking down her cheeks. She was cradling a small body wrapped in a white sheet. Blood stained the cloth.

Thea's eyes widened for a moment before she dropped her gaze to the ground. She didn't know if it was out of respect or sorrow; both were good answers.

As the blonde disappeared down into the prison yard, Rick began to explain the events that had transpired.

"Patrick got sick last night. It's some kind of flu. It moves fast. We think he died and attacked the cell block." He began. He turned to Carl. "Look, I know he was your friend and I'm sorry. He was a good kid. We lost a lot of good people." His next words were directed at Maggie. "Glenn and your dad are okay, but they were in there. You shouldn't get too close to anyone that might have been exposed, at least for a little while."

At those words Carl backed up further and then turned to run back to Michonne's side, wrapping her arm around his shoulder in support once more.

Thea frowned hard. A flu? How had it started? She had spent plenty of time in the ER taking care of patients who had a strand of the flu virus, but every year the sickness mutated into a stronger and different version. This one sounded like it had done just that.

"Carl, all of you." Rick was still speaking. "Thea you're the only one with medical experience who wasn't exposed so you should take extra care. We'll need you for Judith and the others."

She nodded in agreement, and felt a weight drop on her chest at the newfound responsibility.

Suddenly a stab of fear made her chest ache and she looked to Rick desperately. "K-Karen, she's in D-Block! Is she…?" she couldn't say the word but the sheriff seemed to understand what she was asking.

"She's alive," He reassured her with a shake of his head. "She managed to get a majority of the children into her cell to keep them safe."

The second part wasn't needed but she was grateful for the information. She knew Karen wouldn't have let anything happen to the kids and would have probably died for them if it had come to that. That was just the kind of person her friend was.

As Carl and Maggie led Michonne into C-Block she glanced back towards the grieving mother before she began to follow. It wasn't until the others were inside and she was just about to go through the iron tunnel that led to the door that Rick spoke again, calling her name softly.

She faced him slowly and raised an eyebrow in response.

"That thing you wanted to talk about?"

She had completely forgotten and now the idea of laying yet another burden on the man who was clearly overloaded seemed frugal. So she shrugged. "It's not important." She lied.

He saw right through it. Tilted his head at her in challenge.

"It is important," she finally admitted. "But it can wait."

She didn't give him a chance to respond to her before turning to walk into the cell block. This is why her mother told her never to procrastinate when it came to matters of importance.

Sometimes life got in the way. Or death.

* * *

Sometime later Thea was rummaging through the box of medical supplies that had been placed in the communal area in cell block C. Michonne's ankle was only sprained, but despite the woman's protests Thea wanted to get at least some kind of mild pain killer in her; ibuprofen was good for pain _and_ swelling so finding that would be ideal. She wasn't having much luck though.

The box was filled with band-aids and gauze and even some vitamins, but they were running extremely low on pain meds. She managed to find a bottle of Tylenol but when she popped open the cap there were only two capsules left inside. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, eyes falling shut and head bowing. It had been a long day and the day wasn't close to being finished yet.

"You should take those for your ribs."

She snapped her head up and found Tyreese standing nearby, a bouquet of wild flowers in one hand. She smiled a tiredly in his direction and replaced the cap on the bottle.

"Michonne needs them for her ankle. I'm fine." She said. After a moment she motioned to the flowers. "Got a date?"

He looked down and chuckled, nodded his head twice. "Thought maybe a little color would make Karen feel better about being locked in solitary."

Karen had been sequestered from the others, along with David from the Decatur group, after exhibiting signs of illness. So far the dark haired woman was just coughing, but Thea knew from experience how the flu could turn on the drop of a dime.

"Do you mind if I come with you? I want to check on her and David."

Ty cocked his head at her, a small smirk slipping across his face. "Aren't you supposed to be steering clear of any sick people?"

Placing the Tylenol on the table she scoffed at him. "Please, I'm a doctor. You try and keep me from sick patients and _you'll_ be the one with broken ribs."

They shared a laugh but the man didn't protest any further as they moved into the tombs. She was glad that his relationship with Karen had caused the two of them to become friends as well, she didn't have many people here at the prison that she actually trusted with her life.

The walk to the area of the prison where the solitary confinement cells were was a silent one, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Thea found that she liked the silence more than any small talk that could have transpired; neither one of them were talkative people anymore, the world had changed them just a little too much for that part of their personality to stay prominent.

When they got to the cells Tyreese took the lead and a large grin spread on his face as he moved to peer into the small window on the door of the cell that housed Karen. Just as Thea was about to check on David she saw Ty's face fall.

"What is it?" She asked, her heart beginning to race in fear. Had Karen succumbed to her illness?

She received no response and instead he stepped back to look down at the floor. When she followed his gaze her stomach dropped and a gasp escaped her lips.

Blood smeared from underneath the cell door and trailed down the hallway before disappearing around the corner. A similar trail was coming from David's cell and she placed a hand gingerly over her mouth in shock and followed after Tyreese as he began to follow the blood trail. It went down the next hall and out through a lone door at the end.

Sunlight flooded in as Ty pushed open the door and she was suddenly hit smack in the face with a stench she couldn't quite place. It was something akin to burnt meat, like someone had overcooked a pork chop to the point of ruining it. It had her scrunching her nose in disgust.

But then the stench was forgotten as Tyreese came to a halt in front of her and she had to work to avoid hitting him. When she moved around him to see what had caught his attention she wished that she had never come down here.

"Oh god." She gasped, her eyes welling up instantly.

On the concrete before her lay two bodies charred black. Smoke was still rising off their corpses and she could see patches of pink flesh that hadn't burnt completely.

The body closest to her was male. David.

And the other one…the other one was very obviously Karen.

* * *

 **A/N: How did you guys like that? I hope it didn't seem like I was rushing through the episode, but I didn't think that Thea needed to be getting in the way in D-Block.**

 **I thought about posting a little mini chapter on Wednesday that is only comprised of flashbacks to either before the outbreak or after losing Cat and Hank (or both). Does that sound like a good idea to you guys?**

 **As usual, I'd love to hear what you thought of this chapter and thank you for reading! :)**


	9. Savages

**A/N: Chapter nine and it's the longest chapter yet! This chapter is THREE episodes! Plus we get revenge on Hoyt!**

 **Episodes 4x03, 4x04, & part of 4x05, enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

Her knees hit the pavement hard as her legs crumpled beneath her and her hands flew to cover her mouth. She could hear Tyreese breathing hard as he stared at the burnt bodies but she couldn't bring herself to look up at him. Her mind was reeling.

Who had done this? Did they find Karen and David already dead and simply try to dispose of the bodies? Or did they _kill them in cold blood_?

Her blood boiled at the thought of the woman she had come to consider her best friend being killed brutally and then burned to a crisp.

Suddenly all the training, all the times she saw the _insides_ of living human beings, all those cadavers in medical school, the vile and disgusting things she'd had to deal with as an intern…all of that didn't matter anymore. She felt bile rising in her throat and had to scramble to her feet and move to the corner of the mini courtyard farthest from the bodies to empty her stomach.

"Oh, _God_." She groaned, wiping her mouth on the sleeve of her shirt.

When she turned back around, one hand holding her stomach, it was just in time to see Tyreese storming back into the prison. She watched him go before her gaze turned back to Karen, or what had _been_ Karen. She took in a long, ragged breath and then when she exhaled a whimper came out. Bowing her head, she lifted a hand to cover her eyes as tears slipped down her face.

 _Oh, god, Karen._

"This way." Tyreese's angry voice came from the tunnels suddenly. He was leading someone here.

"Is that blood?" a woman's voice asked, Thea thought it might have been Carol but she hadn't spoken with the woman enough to be able to recognize her voice.

There was no response and Thea raised her head in time to see Tyreese returning with Rick, Carol, and _Daryl._ The last of the three eyed her as he came into the outer area and she lifted shaking hands to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

Rick spoke in a low, gruff tone. "What the hell is this?"

Ty didn't respond. He was staring angrily at the bodies again, breathing hard enough that his shoulders were rising and falling in ferocious rhythm.

Thea cleared her throat and spoke in a quiet voice. "Karen and David." She didn't know what else to say, didn't know how to explain this.

Rick's eyes fell to her and then back to Tyreese. "You found them like this?" he asked.

The furious man before them turned to glance back at the sheriff.

"We came to see Karen…and I saw the blood on the floor." He began. "Then I smelled them."

Thea's stomach lurched again but thankfully she kept down what little was left of what she had eaten for lunch.

"Somebody dragged them out here and set'em on fire! They killed them and set'em on fire!" Ty's voice pierced the air harshly and echoed off the concrete around them.

He turned and stepped close to Rick, the two of them were almost touching and Daryl had moved to stand behind Tyreese at the ready, as if he were going to be able to pull the much larger man away.

"You're a cop," Ty stated. "You find out who did this and you bring'em to me. You understand? You bring'em to _me!_ "

Daryl reached out to grab the black man's arm. "We'll find out who—"

He was cut off by the arm he held being jerked away roughly.

"—I need to say it again?"

This time it was Rick who spoke as he shook his head. "No. No. I know what you're feeling. I've been there. You saw me there. It's dangerous."

Tyreese faced the sheriff again. "Karen didn't deserve this!"

No, she didn't. Of all the people in this prison Karen might have been one of the only people who had never done anything to anyone. She didn't deserve to die this way.

Rick agreed with one word: "No."

"David didn't deserve it. _Nobody_ does." Ty added.

Well…Thea could think of _one_ man who deserved something at least similar to this.

"All right, man, let's—"

As Daryl's hand connected with Tyreese's shoulder the latter spun around and gripped the front of the former's shirt, shoving him backwards until he could slam him against the iron bars that led to another courtyard.

Thea had never seen Tyreese this angry.

"Man, I ain't going nowhere till I find out who did this!"

"We're on the same side, man." Daryl said slowly, his hands up over Ty's shoulders to keep Rick and Carol from trying to pull the angry man off.

Thea didn't move a muscle as she stared at the two in the altercation. She didn't think Tyreese would be dumb enough to try and hurt Daryl with Rick standing right there, but then again she hadn't seen him this furious before so maybe she was wrong.

Rick stepped close to Ty's back. "Hey, look, I know what you're going through. We've all lost someone. We know what you're going through right now, but you've got to calm down."

As he patted Tyreese's shoulder Thea couldn't help but think that they should probably stop touching him without warning because he immediately whipped around and pushed hard against the sheriff's chest.

"You need to step the hell back!"

"She wouldn't want you to be like this."

That was evidently the wrong thing to say. As soon as the words left Rick's mouth Ty reared back his arm and punched Rick right across the jaw, knocking the man to his knees.

Carol screamed out dramatically and moved to the fallen man's side. "Stop! Stop!" She screamed again as a second punch landed on the smaller man's face and resulted in a crack that had even Thea cringing.

Daryl came forward and jumped onto Ty's back to try and get him away from Rick. Tyreese was breathing hard and loud, Rick spit blood on the concrete, and Carol was near hysterics.

The last part…Thea felt it was a little forced.

"That's enough." Daryl grumbled twice.

For a second it seemed as if things would calm down. Thea started towards Rick to see how bad his face was, but then he stood suddenly and swung his fist so hard into the black man's face that Daryl's grip on him broke and he fell to the ground like Rick had been moments before.

The sheriff's face had morphed into something she had never seen before and he kicked his leg hard striking Ty in the ribs hard enough to flip him on his back.

Thea's side ached suddenly at the memory of the same thing happening to her not too long ago. She gripped her ribs and grimaced.

Rick stood over her friend and began to punch him repeatedly. She almost moved to stop him. Daryl beat her to it.

The hunter grabbed Rick by the shoulders and tried to pull him away. "Rick, stop it!" he growled as he tugged.

"Let go of me!" Rick was erratic, wild.

Thea was suddenly scared of the man she saw. She backed away until her back pressed against the far wall.

"Let go of me!"

After much struggle Daryl was finally able to get Rick away from Tyreese, who was laying on the ground whimpering. He was crying, one eye swollen shut and blood covering his face. Carol had her hands over her mouth in shock. Thea shook fearfully against the wall, the outburst having brought back flashes of that fateful night in the library.

Her gaze traveled from the man on the ground to his attacker and she saw him holding his wrist gingerly, his knuckles bloody and hand shaking. He'd hit Ty pretty hard, it wouldn't be a surprise if his wrist was at the very least sprained.

And then there was the expression on Rick's face. He seemed almost…dazed. As if he had become an entirely different person when he was attacking Tyreese, and now he was realizing what that other person had done. It was just as alarming as the brawl had been.

No one moved for what seemed like forever, but then finally Thea pushed herself off the wall to go to Tyreese's side. Tucking her hair behind both ears, she hovered over him and reached a hand out to grasp his shoulder gently.

"I need to check and make sure nothing is broken." She told him as he jumped and cracked his good eye open.

He stood abruptly, faster than she thought would have been possible, and stormed away without a word, disappearing inside the prison.

The doctor moved to follow, stopping only to speak to Rick in a low voice. "If I were you I'd have Herschel take a look at that wrist."

Her gaze flickered to the charred bodies as she walked passed Daryl. "Maybe you can use those super-sleuthing skills to figure out who the _murderer_ shacking up with us is?" she grumbled to him.

And then she was once again following Tyreese into the tombs.

* * *

Tyreese had refused to let her take a look at his face until after Karen and David were buried. And then he had refused to let her help him dig the graves because of her ribs. So she had been forced back into the cell block to rest on his orders.

" _You're hurt. You need to give yourself time to heal. And I know how much Karen meant to you."_

He had made it incredibly hard to argue with him.

And then once the bodies had been put in the ground he had still refused to be helped. He had even left with Daryl, Michonne, and Bob to go to a veterinary college that was more than 50 miles away in order to get the meds necessary to the survival of all those sick. Against her demands as a doctor that he needed to be looked at.

Sighing heavily, she sat at one of the tables in the common area and buried her face in her hands. She was trying not to cry. She was done crying. She should be packing her things. They were moving all of those considered vulnerable to the administration building to prevent them from getting sick. Since she was the only doctor who hadn't had contact with an ill person, she was being sequestered too.

It frustrated her more.

"Are you okay?" a small voice asked.

Thea lifted her head to find the youngest member of the Greene family standing by the table with the youngest member of the Grimes family on her hip. By now everyone knew that someone had killed Karen and David, and it was pretty common knowledge that the doctor had been very close to the former. Beth's concern seemed genuine and Thea suddenly felt a pang of guilt over not ever making an effort to talk to the girl.

"If I said I was fine I'd be lying." Thea responded softly, folding her hands together on top of the table.

Beth sat beside her and thrust Judith in her direction without a word.

"I-what?" Thea stuttered in confusion. She didn't move to take the baby.

Judith fussed at being held under her arms too long but Beth didn't take her back. "Holding a baby helps. It helped Michonne when she was upset about the people Patrick killed." She paused and then in a whisper she added with a pointed look: "It helped Maggie when the Governor hurt her. When he almost raped her."

Thea flinched visibly, and then her eyes widened. How did Beth know? Had Maggie told her? Who else had Maggie told?

"How did you-?"

"—I pay attention. Everyone thinks I'm quiet, that I'm just the babysitter, but I pay attention."

That was all the explanation she gave and she still held Judith out to her. The baby kicked her legs and scrunched her face up as she whined, and Thea reached out to take her from the blonde before she could start wailing.

The baby seemed to not mind being in the arms of someone who had never held her before, she reached out and grabbed a handful of the hair at the base of Thea's head, staring at the Brit curiously.

Thea held her close and stared back into those innocent eyes. Eyes that had never seen any of the horrors that surrounded them all. She wanted to cry thinking about how one day those brown eyes would be full of fear. The trust that came so easily for her would be diminished. Her outlook on life would be tainted from the moment she could really comprehend what was going on.

"I won't tell anyone, you know." Beth spoke suddenly. "But I think _you_ should."

Thea turned her gaze back to the younger girl and exhaled slowly. "It's not that easy."

"But it can be. You know it can be."

They stared at each other for a long moment and Thea began to wonder if she was right. Was it only hard because she was making it that way?

Judith began to fuss and Beth stood, taking her from Thea's arms. There was a moment when Judith held tight on the hair she'd wrapped her fist around, but Beth simply reached back and pulled her hand away.

"You should talk to Carol. She's on the Council, she can help." The girl stated before walking away, soothing Judith with a hummed tune.

Thea wasn't sure if she _could_ talk to Carol. The woman wasn't exactly a fan of the doctor; would she take the time to listen or blow her off? She would have to find out.

Standing she made her way out to the courtyard to see if she could find the shorter haired woman. There was no one in sight, but as she got closer to the fence she saw Carol pumping water into a bucket down by the far fences.

She decided to wait for her to come back up to the courtyard, she didn't want to stress her ribs after all, and turned to make her way to the covered tables nearby. She stopped short when she saw Rick making his way from D-block. His head was down but she could tell by the tension in his shoulders that he was not in a good mood.

He hadn't spotted her yet and so she ducked down behind the counter where Carol cooked the meals, sitting and hoping he wouldn't see her as he passed by.

She didn't want to risk the small talk. Didn't want it to lead to him questioning her about the thing she had meant to talk to him about prior to the outbreak in cell block D.

She sat there for a while but he never came by and she wondered where he had went.

A moment later she heard the main gate open and close, Carol was walking in with a bucket of water in each hand. She was headed for the large blue, plastic barrels they kept the water in and Thea almost stood to call out to her. _Almost._

"That was a stupid thing you did. Going out there like that." Rick spoke up from where he had been waiting on one of the landings higher up than the courtyard.

Peeking over the counter Thea watched the interaction curiously.

"Yes, it was." Carol was agreeing.

Rick came down the concrete stairs and walked close to the older woman. Thea didn't fail to notice how his left hand rested, almost casually but still threateningly, on his holstered gun.

"You know, you do a lot for us, for the kids." He continued. "You sacrifice a lot." There was a long pause as they stared at each other. "Is there anything you _wouldn't_ do for the people here?"

Carol didn't hesitate to answer, shaking her head. "No."

When Rick's only response was a nod, the woman turned to continue towards the blue barrels. Thea felt something was off about this whole thing.

"Carol…" The sheriff called out slowly. He was bowing his head, almost like he didn't want to have this conversation.

The woman stopped and turned back to look at him. She didn't look fond of the situation either.

"Did you kill Karen and David?"

Thea felt shock shoot through her as she heard the question. She turned her attention to the other woman in anticipation for her answer, her heart pounding in her chest and her breathing heavy.

The answer came with only the slightest bit of hesitation, but was spoken so calmly. "Yes."

That was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Thea gasped as Carol strolled away from Rick, and she stood abruptly, knocking a bowl off the counter.

Both Rick and Carol were looking at her now, Rick's eyes shocked that she had heard…Carol looked almost worried.

Without a word Thea moved forward quickly, cutting across the courtyard and towards the woman who still held the two buckets of water. As she closed in she reared her arm back, and then her fist connected hard with Carol's jaw.

The woman stumbled backwards a few feet with a surprised shout but stayed standing, the pails of water dropping from her grasp and somehow managing to land upright, only spilling a few drops.

She pulled her arm back to hit the woman again, anger coursing through her veins and causing her blood to boil. Before she could swing again, however, strong arms wrapped around her from behind and pulled her away from Carol, lifting her off the ground in the process.

She cried out in pain as the arms squeezed her ribs and kicked her legs in an attempt to get Rick to drop her, but instead he carried her across the courtyard as if she weighed nothing. She saw Carol pick up the buckets again and vanish out of sight quickly, and Thea couldn't help but growl out loud in frustration.

Rick finally deposited her with a _thunk_ on the metal bleachers and stood before her, his hands on his hips. He looked just as angry as she felt, she wasn't sure if it was directed at her or not.

"You get to pummel Tyreese for stepping out of line, but Carol _murders_ my best friend and you stop me after one punch?" She exclaimed.

" _Ssshh!_ Keep your voice down!" Rick growled in a low voice, stepping close to her. "We need to be smart about this."

"Smart-" he hushed her again and she spoke quieter. "What do you mean by _smart_? You're a cop, we should lock her up in one of the cells. _Punish_ her."

He shook his head and held out one hand. His face meant business. "Things aren't the same. We can't just arrest her. You just punched her in the face, do you think Tyreese will react any better when he gets back and finds out?"

He was right. Ty was a good man, a kind one, but he had a temper. He had flipped out on the sheriff when he'd discovered Karen was dead…he probably would react worse if he found out who the killer was. He might try to kill her.

As much as she was hating Carol in this moment, she didn't want her to end up dead. Especially in a violent manner.

Thea exhaled softly and as she calmed down her hand began to throb. She had hit Carol as hard as she could and looking down now she could see that the skin on her knuckles was split open and bleeding. It had been a really long time since she'd punched someone, a surgeon's hands were valuable after all, but she wasn't regretting it.

"So what's the plan then, Sheriff?"

Rick placed a hand on his holstered colt revolver, the other hand rubbed his eyes for a moment before he pinched the bridge of his nose in thought.

"I don't know." He said finally. "But _I_ will figure it out before the others return. Think you can keep from attacking Carol until then?"

She let out a very unladylike snort and stood and moved to stand in front of him. Her ribs throbbed from how roughly he had grabbed her. "I think I can handle that. Especially since you've all made the decision to send me to the admin building with the children."

"That's just a precaution. We don't want to lose all our doctors to this thing."

She stared up at him for a long moment, almost challengingly, but then she finally nodded. "Yeah, I get it. Doesn't mean I have to be happy about it."

Rick glanced over her shoulder and she turned to see Carl approaching slowly. He was eyeing them with an unreadable expression on his face, and Thea realized then how close she was standing to his father. She didn't want him to get the wrong idea, so she stepped back a little and turned back to the sheriff.

"At least let me know what you decide, okay?" she asked quietly.

He nodded once and she crossed her arms over her chest and turned to walk back into C-Block, offering a small smile to Carl as she passed him.

* * *

She had packed up a few of her things and moved into one of the offices in the administration building. The room she chose had a large desk and a futon that smelled a little funny, but it was better than sleeping on the floor. That night she tossed and turned and dreamt of Karen and David screaming as they burned in endless flames.

The next morning she woke up feeling more tired than she was when she went to sleep. She stretched and groaned as her joints popped.

She slipped from the office and walked silently down the hallway towards the door that would lead her back into the courtyard. She may be forced to sleep here for a while but she refused to sit on her ass all day.

"Where are you going?"

Turning, she found Carl watching her, a gun in one hand and his hat perched on top of his head. Did he think he was in charge here?

"Out. I'm not going to sit here all day and do nothing." She told him.

"We're supposed to stay here."

"Yeah? And what are you going to do if I don't? Shoot me?"

He hesitated to respond and she smiled slowly at him. "Look kid, I don't want to sit around. I'm just going to walk the courtyard for a bit, don't worry."

Thea didn't give him a chance to respond before she made her exit. She squinted into the morning light and headed towards the covered picnic tables slowly. As she neared them she noticed Rick by the green Hyundai. He was putting gas in the tank and the back end was open and full of supplies.

"Going somewhere?" She asked as she approached.

She looked into the back of the car to see what he had placed inside. There seemed to be more supplies than necessary for a run and she wondered if he was planning on leaving for good or something.

"Carol and I are going to check out a housing development not far from here. Hopefully we can find some prescription meds or anything else that could help with the sick." He explained, placing the now empty gas container in the back of the car.

"You and Carol, huh?" She raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

A nod came in response and then he sighed and glanced around as if to make sure no one was watching or listening. "I'm gonna talk to her. See where we stand and make a decision."

That made sense to her; they needed to be smart about this and not make any rash decisions. Glancing into the trunk again she realized that he might in fact be banishing Carol today. She was surprised to find that she didn't have a problem with that.

"Hey, we never got to talk," Rick said suddenly, referring to the conversation she had been avoiding yesterday when she'd overheard Carol's confession.

Thea shook her head and tried not to look uncomfortable by the reminder. "Now's not the time."

"You came to me for a reason, Thea, and I think it's because you know I was a cop. Did you need to…report something or…?"

His hand had reached out to grasp her shoulder in what would have probably been a comforting gesture, but she flinched away involuntarily and he froze.

Her eyes widened and met his, where she saw both confusion and worry. Both emotions were genuine. And then she saw something click in his head like he had put it together and she felt her heartbeat falter.

She didn't want to have this conversation now. Not only was Karen gone, the one person she could count on for moral support, but Rick was in the middle of making a very important decision. "You've got a lot on your plate right now, Rick."

He shook his head. "This is just as important. You're one of us now. Family." He insisted.

She could have cried right then and there at that revelation, but she held it in. "Okay, I'll tell you. _After_ you get back from this run. You don't need any distractions."

He seemed to realize that was the best he would get, and so he simply nodded and reached out to shut the back end of the Hyundai. The door leading to D-Block opened and Carol started towards them, her steps slowing when she saw Thea standing there.

The doctor eyed her for a moment before facing Rick again. "Just…be careful, okay?"

"I will."

Thea turned and walked back towards the administration building. As she passed Carol she hoped that it wouldn't be a mistake to let Rick go alone with her. She was starting to see the former sheriff as a friend, she didn't want to lose another one of those.

As she passed by A-Block, where the sick were being kept, she debated whether or not she should go inside and see how things were going. That would have displeased Rick and the others since she was supposed to be steering clear of that section of the prison, but she didn't really like being told what she _couldn't_ do.

She couldn't go in there now though, she had to wait until Rick and Carol had left. So she returned to the admin building to wait it out.

* * *

She had ended up falling asleep on the smelly futon and didn't wake up until three and a half hours had passed. She grew frustrated thinking that Rick and Carol could have already returned and she didn't know it yet.

She found Carl throwing a ball against a wall near the office Judith and Beth were in. He looked bored out of his mind and she didn't blame him, she didn't want to sit here either.

"Hey, did your dad make it back yet?" She tried to ask casually.

The boy in the hat turned his gaze her way and looked at her for a long moment before responding. "Not yet."

That had Thea feeling concerned. The housing development Rick had mentioned wasn't too far away, it shouldn't have taken them long to go and search houses and come back. Unless they ran into trouble. Unless _Rick_ ran into trouble.

"Are you guys…together?" Carl asked suddenly, surprising the hell out of her.

"Excuse me?" she asked. Where had he even gotten that idea?

"My dad. Is there something going on with you and him?"

"No!" She insisted. "Why would you think that?"

Carl shrugged one shoulder and started tossing the ball again as if he hadn't just insinuated that she was sleeping with Rick Grimes.

" _Carl_ ," she spoke firmly. "Why do you think your father and I are…together?"

The boy was silent for a full minute as she stared a hole in his hat. Then finally he stood and faced her. "I saw you guys talking yesterday. And this morning. And my mom is gone so it's only a matter of time until he tries to replace her."

There was hurt in his voice and she felt guilty even though nothing had or ever would happen with her and Rick. She didn't mean to give anyone the impression that she and Rick were an item, and she never wanted Carl to feel like she was trying to swoop in and hijack his family.

She bent slightly at the waist to look him directly in the eyes. "Carl, I promise you that your father and I are just friends. And I don't think anyone will ever be able to replace your mother. I've seen how he talks about her; he loved her with all his heart. I don't think those feelings will ever go away."

It was incredibly weird for her to be having this conversation, especially considering she had never really interacted with Carl much, but he clearly needed it and she wasn't about to let him think that she or any woman could be a substitute for Lori Grimes. The relationship between mother and child was unbreakable, at least that is how Cat had always described it.

"Do you understand that?" she asked softly, reaching out to lift his chin so she could look him right in the eyes. Blue eyes he shared with his father.

He nodded slowly and she dropped her hand. She wasn't sure if he really got what she was saying or if he just wanted her to go away, but she was glad that she had tried to comfort him in some way.

Still, she needed to get into A-Block soon or else she'd never get the chance.

"Okay, I'm going to go check and see if Herschel needs any help—"

"—You're supposed to stay away from there—"

"—I'm not just going to sit around while there are sick people. I'm a doctor, I _have_ to help."

She flicked the brim of his hat playfully and was glad to hear him chuckle as he righted it. Maybe she had helped him a little bit. Turning, she made towards the exit without a word. Thankfully when she made it outside there still wasn't a sign of the green Hyundai and so she snuck towards death row.

When she got inside she was greeted by the sound of people hacking up their lungs so violently that she could hear it even through the closed door. She pulled the handle and the door opened with a loud clank that had her cringing, and before she had even closed it behind her Herschel stepped out of one of the cells.

He made his way over to her, a slight limp in his gait as he put pressure on his prosthetic leg. When he was close enough to her he spoke in a whisper. "What are you doing in here? You know you're not supposed to come near this cell block."

He didn't sound angry or upset with her, just curious. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? You were told the same thing and yet here you are."

That seemed to stop him from commenting again and he sighed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a red bandana. "At least put this over your face so you don't breathe in anything."

It would probably be best not to argue since he wasn't kicking her out, so she took the cloth and tied it around the lower half of her face to cover her nose and mouth. She was struck with how similar this was to a surgical mask, and then she felt a pang of sadness at the reminder that she would never get to actually perform a solo surgery in an operating room with a full staff to aid her.

"How many are sick?" she asked as a distraction.

"At least fifteen. Most of them are only in the early stages, but there are a couple who might not last until Daryl and the others get back."

She sighed, that wasn't what she wanted to hear. "Who's got it the worst?"

"Caleb, Janine, Anna, and Hoyt."

Thea had been glancing around at the cells when he spoke the last name and she snapped her attention back to the old man in surprise. She had completely forgotten that Hoyt was one of the inhabitants of D-Block; she had been trying her best to keep him out of her thoughts completely. Now that she knew he was lying in one of these cells dying she wondered if it was bad that she felt a sense of pleasure at the idea of him coughing up blood and suffering.

She was glad that Herschel had made her tie the bandana on, because if he hadn't he might be able to see the smile that was slowly spreading across Thea's face.

* * *

It must have been only an hour later that it happened. She was kneeling beside Anna's bed trying to comfort her in any way possible when she heard the groaning in the next cell over. It sounded like the noises someone made when they were in the kind of excruciating pain that was often followed by loss of consciousness and then death.

She stood and reassured Anna she would return, then slipped out of the cell.

Thea had been avoiding this cell for the past hour, knowing if she went inside the words she would have for its occupant would not be kind. Hoyt was an evil, vile, and repulsive human being but she wasn't sure that he deserved to be treated the way she wanted to treat him when he was dying. Then again, he hadn't taken into account her feelings when he had attacked her in the library.

She was inside the cell now and standing over the man who had caused her so much pain and fear. It was the closest she had been to him since the assault, and even though it had been nearly two months since that night she was shocked to see how drastically he had changed physically.

The illness had wracked his body and altered him to the point that she almost didn't recognize him. But she would never forget that face or those eyes.

Glancing around to make sure no one was watching she swatted away the hand that was reaching out for her, most likely seeking some form of help or comfort. He wouldn't get it from her. Not even as he lay before her dying.

She leaned over him slowly and pulled the bandana down so he could see just who was there. His already abnormally large eyes widened further into saucers and she smirked.

"Hey there, Hoyt." She spoke in a low voice, trying her best to sound menacing. "Are you in pain? Are you afraid?"

His wide eyes were red-rimmed, much like hers had been after he had stolen her sense of safety, and he coughed up some blood as he nodded stiffly.

Thea nodded mockingly. "Yeah? I can tell. Would you like something to help with that?"

He nodded again and she glanced around again. The coast was still clear.

"Well you're not going to get anything." She growled and glared hard at him. "You deserve every second of this and you know it."

It seemed that he could only nod now. He had either lost ability to speak around the blood coming up his throat or was afraid to say anything.

"You don't get to attack me, _violate_ me, and then ask me to help you." She straightened up but still stood within his eyesight. "Now I'm going to watch you die. And this time _I'll_ be the one enjoying _your_ pain."

She moved to the other side of the cell and leaned against the bars with her arms crossed. He was silent for a long few minutes like he was trying to keep it together so she wouldn't get to see him suffering. But finally it was like he couldn't hold it in any longer. A long whimper came from his lips and he began to hack violently.

Blood was already coming from his mouth but now she could see it leaking from his nose and rolling down his cheek. He was close to the end now.

The hacking continued as crimson dripped from his ears first and his forehead glistened with sweat. His hair was soaked and stuck to his head flatly. There was a long moment of coughing where it was obvious he wasn't getting any more oxygen and then the capillaries in his eyes burst sending blood down his face.

Thea would be lying if she said she hadn't been thinking about the many different ways she could get back at Hoyt, but now that she was watching him literally die in front of her she started to feel uneasy. No one deserved to die like this, least of all alone, and she wanted to move to his side to at least hold his hand. But then again no one should ever have to be held down and violently assaulted either, and he had never expressed any form of remorse for what he had done, not like Josh had. He hadn't earned her sympathy. He didn't get the satisfaction of watching her pity him.

She waited until his coughing silenced and then his body stopped tremoring and he lay still. He was gone. She had a thought for a second that he deserved worse but quickly squashed that thought and moved to pull the handkerchief back over her face and leave the cell in order to retrieve the gurney they were taking the dead away on.

"Another one?" Herschel called down from the upper level. He was leaning over the rail to get a good look at her.

She nodded and pointed towards Hoyt's cell, not wanting to verbally announce the death in case any of the survivors still alive heard.

The older man nodded and limped down to the staircase, then came her way to help her with the gurney. When they moved it to the now deceased man's bedside Thea went for his legs and Herschel hoisted his upper body onto the red leather cushions.

"I'll take him." He told her, but she waved him off quickly.

"Nonsense, go back up to Henry, he wasn't sounding too good. I've got this."

"Are you sure?"

She tried not to seem too eager. "Yeah, I got it."

Before he could protest further she pulled the sheet off Hoyts bed and threw it over his body, a courtesy for the other sick people and _not_ the man himself. Then she grasped the handles on the underside of the bed and began to roll it towards the back room where the prison had carried out executions of the death row inmates. It had glass that would have been used for viewing but she didn't know if anyone knew how to get to the viewing room so she didn't bother pulling the curtain. She closed the door behind her and wheeled Hoyt's body to the far wall where the window was.

Pulling her knife from its sheath on her thigh she whipped the sheet off of him so she could see his face and then gripped her knife tightly. She raised it and positioned it above his head and waited. She wanted him to be awake for this, even if he wouldn't be himself.

She must have stood there for a good five minutes with her knife poised over him before his bug eyes fluttered open. The whites of his eyes were a milky color and bloodshot and the blue color had faded dramatically, now coming off as a sickly grey color.

His lips curled back in a snarl when he saw her, the same snarl that had been on his face when he had jumped her, and she gasped loudly. She hadn't expected him to react to her so much like the way he had when he had been living. She had expected a blank stare.

As he moved to raise his head from the gurney she thrust her knife down quickly and it embedded in his forehead with a squelch. His body fell limp again and that should have been the end of it all, but she couldn't let him go that easily.

Yanking her knife out roughly, she stabbed it into his head again, and again, and again until his upper face became an unrecognizable mess. Then she moved to his chest, thrusting the blade in and out, in and out. She didn't cry even though her eyes were brimming. She simply violated his body similar to how he had violated her entire soul. Over and over again.

A strangled noise came from her throat as her arms grew tired and she let out a sob, still no tears, which shook her entire body in ferociously until she had jabbed her weapon one last time into Hoyt's gut and then stepped back.

As she stared at the dead man and panted, her body slowly shaking, a shadow came into her peripheral vision and she turned her head to find Rick standing on the other side of the window. His face told her he was shocked and his eyes flickered between her and Hoyt questioningly.

There was no way for her to avoid telling him now.

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter was very fun to write because so much drama happened in these three episodes. I really like when things pick up a bit, and I'm sure you guys do too.**

 **The next chapter will be the rest of 4x05 and some, if not all, of 4x08 (since episodes 6 &7 were the Governor's episodes), which means the loss of the prison and the separation of the group.**

 **As usual, I'd love to hear what you thought of this chapter and thank you for reading! :)**


	10. Red Right Hand

**A/N: I just want to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! I really do appreciate hearing the feedback and seeing that people are enjoying what I am writing and posting. I hope you guys like how this chapter turned out!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

There was a long moment where the two of them stared at each other without moving or speaking. Thea was sure she wasn't breathing as she tried to figure out what Rick was thinking. Could he put it together that Hoyt had been the one to hurt her? Or was he just replaying the scene he had walked in on? Seeing a _doctor_ violently stabbing a dead body probably raised a few warning flags in the cop's head.

She just hoped he would let her explain before he made any decisions or jumped to conclusions.

Finally she moved around the gurney where Hoyt's mutilated body lay with her knife still embedded in his gut. There was a door that led into the viewing room and she pulled it open to step into the room with the sheriff, pulling the handkerchief off her face as she went.

Rick was watching her every move as if she was going to attack him and it wasn't until she uncovered her lower face that he seemed to relax just slightly. _Just slightly_.

She didn't know what to say or where to even begin, so instead she avoided it.

"How did things go with Carol?" She asked as she tried to steady her breathing.

His eyes wandered to Hoyt's body and she thought he would ask her about that instead, but then he answered. "She's not here. I couldn't bring her back here with my children. My family." It looked like just thinking about the other woman was making him angry. "She has a car and supplies, she'll be fine."

Thea nodded slowly. She hadn't wanted Carol here when Ty returned because of what he could possibly do to her, and now she wondered what they were supposed to do about it. Would they tell Ty or pretend like Carol had gone away on her own? All these questions would have to wait.

"What's going on here?" Rick was wondering, motioning towards the body on the gurney.

She bowed her head, avoiding his eyes and the conversation that was about to start. She didn't want to tell him, but she had promised Karen she would. Granted that had been when they were worried about Hoyt attacking someone else, but Thea felt like she was obligated now to carry out that promise.

"Uh…that thing I wanted to talk to you about…" She trailed off and looked into the other room. "He was involved in that."

When she didn't say anything more for a full minute he responded. "Involved how?"

This was probably going to be the hardest thing she ever did but there was no way to get out of telling him. She was stuck. "Do you remember Josh? He came with Hoyt in the Decatur group."

Rick looked tired of the run-around, but nodded. "He killed himself in the showers."

She didn't need that reminder. "Yeah, he did that because of me. Because of Hoyt."

"Wha-Why?" he stammered, growing frustrated.

Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath before meeting his gaze. "That night when Tyreese took my watch and I went to the library, Hoyt and Josh attacked me."

The sheriff stiffened, his back straightening as he took in what she was saying. It was starting to make sense to him now, she could tell.

"Josh he…uh…he held me down and Hoyt…" she looked away from Rick and took in a shaky breath, shaking her head slowly. "He kicked me a few times, that's what really happened to my ribs. And then he…he…" she couldn't say it out loud, it was too hard. Luckily for her Rick seemed to get the point.

"I—I get it." He said in a tight voice. He pinched the bridge of his nose, something she noticed he did a lot in high stress situations, and then he began to pace the small room. "Did Josh…?"

She knew what he was asking. Thankfully the answer was no, she couldn't imagine something like that happening to her twice. "No, he refused. But he helped keep me there, keep me quiet. That's what made him kill himself, he felt guilty."

Rick stopped pacing to face her, one hand on his hip while the other gesticulated in her direction. "Why didn't you say anything? We could have done something, we could have handled this."

She couldn't help but laugh. "I tried. I tried so many times but I could never—I lost my gumption or something would happen to distract me. And I was afraid. I didn't think it mattered if something happened to me…I'm just some random person your group came across who happened to be a doctor. That's why I'm here. That's my role here. And I didn't think I could just _waltz_ up to The Council and say 'hey this guy raped me' and have—"

"—You really think that? That you're just here to be our _doctor_?"

There was a look in Rick's eyes that had her clamming up. He looked genuinely disturbed by the notion that she was only important to them because of her medical skills. But _wasn't_ that why they kept her around? She wasn't particularly close to anyone besides Karen and Tyreese, and that had always made her wonder if they wanted her around or if they needed her.

She shrugged. "Is that wrong to assume? I have two friends here…or I guess I have one now if he still wants to talk to me after he finds out I helped Carol escape his wrath. I just thought that you guys wanted me here because of my skills. And my knowledge. My expertise."

The sheriff took two steps forward and nodded. "We do want you here because of that. Doctors are hard to find in this new world." He admitted.

She felt her heart sink. Thinking something is true and having it confirmed were two different things.

"But," he added. "We kept you around because you're a good person. We all like you, Thea, we just don't have a good way of showing it. Especially after everything we've been through and had to do to get this far."

Suddenly she felt bad for what she had said. She was a fool, and maybe it was the trauma that made her that way. She wondered if this conversation would change the way Rick saw her more than what happened to her would.

The sheriff spoke again, this time in a softer tone. "I'm sorry this happened to you. I wish…I wish we could have prevented it. And I'm sorry we made you feel like you couldn't say anything."

She felt like she should be apologizing too for some reason, but she didn't say anything and the room fell silent for a long moment.

Finally, Rick looked over to Hoyt's body and the knife still sticking up out of his stomach. "Maybe it's best you didn't tell me right away. If I'd have known…he probably wouldn't have lived long enough to get sick." He admitted.

She was shocked by that. When he had said earlier they could have taken care of things she hadn't thought that meant _killing_ Hoyt, but she could see in his eyes that he meant it. There was a fierceness there that made her throat tighten; he _cared_ about her.

"Does anyone else know about this?" he was asking her.

Thea nodded. "Karen knew. Maggie kind of forced me to tell her. And I don't know how, but Beth figured it out. She told me I should talk to Carol. That's what I was going to do when I heard her confess."

He could only nod in response and then he turned to gaze at the body in the other room. She wondered what he was thinking, as she could see the wheels turning in his head, and she wondered if he would treat her differently now.

"We need to get rid of the body."

Well _that_ was unexpected. "I—what?"

"Unless you want to explain why you had to stab him a couple dozen times to put him down?"

"No," He was right. How had she planned on getting that by Herschel when they took the body to burn? She hadn't thought that far in advance. "No, I don't want anyone else to know."

Rick nodded again and then pulled a pair of gloves from his back pocket, the ones he wore when digging around in the garden. "Let's do it before Herschel comes looking for you."

* * *

After burning Hoyt's body Rick had sent her back to the admin building to rest and she hadn't found it in her to protest; revenge was exhausting. She had gone back to the little office that was deemed hers and passed out on the stinky futon.

She woke up several hours later and was surprised to find it was already dark outside. She wondered if Daryl and the others had made it back with the meds yet, but surely someone would have woken her to help. And if they hadn't returned, how many more people had died in A-block while they were waiting?

Shit. Herschel was probably exhausted doing it all by himself.

She stood and stretched before grabbing her knife and heading out of the building and towards A-block to see if the vet needed any help. Up ahead she spotted Rick and Carl by one of the fences. There had to be at least fifty walkers piled up on that one section of fence and the two men trying to put up posts to keep the chain-link from giving out.

Jogging across the courtyard and into the guard tower that was connected to the walkway between fences, she called out to them. "You guys need any help?"

Just as Rick had turned to respond a portion of the fence being held up by wooden posts made a strange creaking noise. Thea stepped in that direction to see what was going on, sidestepping the Grimes men, and then as she came to a stop two of the wooden posts cracked in half.

The fence began to fall towards her and she reached out to grab at one of the metal poles. Rick came running over to her and threw his weight against the fence too, but then the posts had completely broken and the chain-link fell quickly with the weight of the near thirty walkers.

"Shit!" Thea exclaimed just as Rick grabbed her arm roughly and yanked her out of the way.

"Run!" Rick yelled to her and Carl, shoving the doctor towards the kid.

Thea stumbled and then caught her footing, following Carl as he ran for the guard tower. A glance back told her that the walkers had spilled into the walkway and Rick was doing his best to evade their grasping hands.

"Rick, hurry!" Thea shouted back to him. She and Carl made it into the base of the guard tower and she held the door open for the sheriff.

"Dad, come on! Come on!"

Walkers were gaining on Rick, but he managed to slide into the guard tower with them and Thea slammed the door just as the hoard reached them. The dead beasts began to bang hungrily against the metal and she faced the others in a pant.

"This way," Rick led them to the other side of the tower and they went through the door that Thea had come through not even two minutes ago.

Back in the courtyard the three turned to watch the walkers. They were growling and snarling at the survivors, pressing themselves against the inner fence, the fence that led to the courtyard. It began to sway with the weight and Thea backed up a few inches instinctively.

"Dad, what do we do?" Carl asked.

Rick glanced around for an answer. "Maybe I could back the bus up against the fence." He suggested.

Thea and Carl responded at the same time. "Will it hold?"

The sheriff looked between the two of them in silence for a long moment before grabbing each of their arms. "Come on." He led them towards the row of industrial sized laundry baskets, the ones the prison had used but were now filled with weapons and ammo of different kinds. Dropping their arms, he reached in and pulled out two assault rifles and handed one to Carl and then Thea, followed by a magazine to load into them.

"Pockets." He instructed as he gave them each two more magazines. He pocketed some of his own as they did as he said. "Got it?"

"Yep." Carl replied as Thea nodded.

They moved back over to stand near the fence again. The walkers were almost through now.

"All right, listen to me."

The two lesser experienced gunmen nodded and turned to give him their full attention.

Rick began to demonstrate on his own gun what he was telling them. "Magazine goes in here. Release is here. Make sure it latches. Pull back the operating rod and rounds feed up. Keep squeezing the trigger for rapid fire, okay?" When they finished doing as he showed them, he leaned down to look in Carl's eyes. "You shoot or you run. Don't let them get close, okay?"

Before the young kid could respond the fence let out a metallic shriek and the walkers were through. Rick and Carl lifted their guns and began to fire, it took Thea a second longer but then she followed suit.

She had never fired a gun like this before and she found she didn't care much for the way it vibrated in her hands. Still she shot down a few walkers as they came into the courtyard, surprising herself when she hit them in the head.

A click to her right told her Rick's mag was empty and he yanked it from the gun, reaching into his pocket for another. "Back up!" He hollered at them as he reloaded.

Thea took a few steps back and fired at a couple of walkers that were getting too close. Beside her Rick was forced to use the butt of his rifle to smack a walker back and Carl shot it down before tossing his father a new magazine as the one the sheriff had just loaded had only housed a few rounds.

There were several minutes of rapid firing that had Thea's ears ringing, but eventually all the walkers were either lying dead on the concrete or pinned beneath dead ones and still snapping at them. Rick had them put the guns away and they grabbed crowbars and canes that had been sharpened for stabbing into rotted heads through the fences, then they walked through the pile of walkers to kill any of them still animated.

"This could have gone a lot worse." Thea commented when Carl had put down the final walker.

Rick nodded in agreement and glanced towards his son. Before he could speak, however, a car engine came from down by the main gate and they spotted a dark colored mini-van coming up the road.

Carl turned to look at his dad. "Dad…everything's gonna be okay." He said before dropping his cane in a bin and running down to let the returning group in.

As the van drove up the dirt path Rick pulled the main gate open for them to come into the courtyard. A glance through the windshield told her all were returning safely. Tyreese had the back door slid open before the vehicle had even stopped and he spoke to Rick urgently.

"Sasha? How's Sasha?"

Rick shook his head. "I don't know. I'm sorry."

Daryl opened the passenger door and eyed the dead walkers and the blood on Rick and Thea's clothing before turning to Ty. "Get in there. We got this." He said, patting the larger man on the shoulder.

Tyreese ran off towards A-Block and Bob and Daryl moved around to open the back end of the van to get the supplies out. Thea joined them, taking a bag from Daryl as he offered it.

Nodding to Bob, she spoke with a bit of cheerfulness returning. "Come on, we've got some patients to take care of." She felt a tiny bit normal saying that, but shook it off as she led the way.

* * *

They had saved a dozen people with the medicine and still had enough left over should anyone catch the flu again. All in all it was a good night, and Thea felt very pleased to have been a part of helping. Once everyone was resting with IV's in their arms she left the cell block and went to move her stuff back into her cell in C-Block, and then she returned to the courtyard to sit on the bleachers.

It was nice out, not too hot or cold, and the stars and moon were bright enough that there was no need for her flashlight. She sat in silence for a while just enjoying the cool night air and the sense of accomplishment that came from saving a patient. She had missed that feeling.

A clinking noise from behind her had her turning and she spotted Daryl approaching. He was lighting a cigarette as he walked, the clinking noise had been his lighter. The archer came to a stop beside her and she was struck with how similar this was to that night he had questioned her about the bruise on her temple. Only this time she was almost completely healed and her attacker was dead.

"Hey," She said softly, though it didn't seem necessary.

He squinted at her even though it wasn't exactly bright out, and then made a grunting noise. "Hey."

It was odd to hear him say it for some reason, like small talk just came out weird from a man like him. He was the strong and silent type, she decided.

"You guys made it back just in the nick of time." She commented. This too seemed unnecessary. But she wasn't exactly sure how to talk to a guy like Daryl Dixon. She hadn't had problems with men in the past, but he was a different breed.

When she realized that she was looping Daryl in with past _rendezvous_ she felt herself pale.

"Almost didn't make it."

She frowned, her brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

He took a long drag on his cigarette and the red glow on the end lit up his face hauntingly. "Had a run in with a giant herd. Must've been two or three hundred of them."

"Jesus." She breathed out, her heart racing just a little. A herd that size could blow through the prison in one fell swoop. And the four scavengers had managed to evade them somehow.

"Y'all had your own problems here though." Daryl added, eyes on the pile of dead walkers on the other end of the courtyard.

She shrugged. That herd was not like their herd at all but if he wanted to compare the two she wasn't going to fight him. "We managed. So did you."

They locked eyes and fell silent for several seconds that seemed to drag on forever. And then she wasn't sure what he saw in her eyes but he bowed his head for a second before looking out over the field.

"I'm sorry about Karen," he said suddenly. "Y'all were close."

She stiffened in both surprise at him bringing it up and in pain of the memory of finding her best friend burnt to a crisp. Her eyes fell to the concrete. "Yeah." It was all she could say.

"We're gonna find who did it. Make 'em pay."

He didn't know about Carol yet, she realized, and she tried her best to make it look like she didn't know anything about it either. "She reminded me so much of my little sister," She said, smiling sadly at the ground. She didn't know why she brought Cat up, but it was better than accidentally blurting out that Carol had murdered Karen and David.

Daryl eyed her as he pulled another drag off his cigarette. "Didn't know you had a sister." He spoke gruffly and curiously. Strangely it seemed that he was interested by this line of conversation.

Thea nodded and faced him. "Yeah. Catherine. She was always the troublemaker, always the adventurous one."

"She dead?"

"I…I don't know. I was with her when everything happened. We were together for a few weeks but then there was a herd. She took my nephew, Hank, to hide and I led the walkers away, when I made it back they were both gone. I don't know if they're dead or if they're still out there somewhere…"

He was staring at her as she trailed off and she looked up at the stars again in an attempt to keep her emotions at bay. Maybe somewhere out there Cat was looking up at the same stars wondering where _she_ was; cheesy as that thought was it comforted her just a bit.

"Had an older brother, Merle." Daryl told her. "He died and came back. I had to put him down."

It felt like there was more to that story, but she wasn't going to push him into telling her. Instead she offered him a small smile as comfort. "I'm sorry. I can't imagine having to do something like that."

They fell silent once again and she could smell his cigarette burning as he lifted it to his mouth. She eyed him in her peripheral vision for a moment before turning towards him again and nodding to the pack of cigarettes in his pocket.

"You got another one of those?"

He grunted and pulled the pack out, offering it to her. "Thought you didn't smoke?"

As she pulled one out she shrugged. "It's been a stressful evening." She commented.

He flipped open the lighter and lit it, holding it towards her. Thea put the stick between her lips and leaned forward to light the end on the flame. The first puff of smoke that went down her throat and into her lungs burned, but fortunately she managed to not end up in a coughing fit like she had seen so many people do in movies. She exhaled a puff of smoke towards the fence so it wouldn't go in his face.

When she heard him scoff she turned in his direction in confusion. "What?"

Daryl shrugged one of his shoulders. "Thought you'd start coughing like a girl." He informed her.

"I'm English. We're kind of bred to be smokers." She retorted with a raised eyebrow.

Surprisingly that brought a chuckle out of the man's lips and he shook his head at her. "Makes perfect sense." Was his reply.

She found she liked this side of him. They weren't arguing or being awkward and she wondered why she hadn't made more of an effort to talk with him before now. She switched the cigarette to her right hand so she could tuck her hair behind her left ear and as she lifted the stick back to her mouth he motioned towards her hand.

"What happened there?"

She looked down and realized that her knuckles were scabbed over where they had busted when she had punched Carol. Should she explain to him or just pretend she got mad and punched a wall? Ultimately the truth fell from her lips before she could stop it. "I—uh-punched Carol."

"You did what?" Daryl asked, stiffening.

Thea sighed and took a long, long pull on the cigarette before responding. "I can't tell you why, Rick wants to talk to you about it in the morning, but I promise you I had good reason."

He was still stiff and his cig had fallen from his fingers and was smoking on the ground by his boot. She wondered just how angry she had made him, but then he stopped out the cigarette and replied. "Yeah, you better had." He growled before turning and stomping towards C-Block.

When she was alone she stared down at the busted knuckles of her hand and what was left of the lit cigarette hanging between her index and middle fingers. She looked rough, if Cat saw her she would probably ask if she'd joined a gang or something.

She'd answer yes.

* * *

"Man, you couldn't have waited until we got back?" Daryl asked angrily as he paced the small space on the upper level of C-block where he stood with Rick.

Thea was standing down below watching them anxiously, wondering how the hell Daryl was going to take this whole thing.

Rick's head tilted and he squinted at the man. "Till _Tyreese_ got back?"

Daryl shook his head, scoffed. "I could've handled that."

"Hey," Rick called to get his attention. When he didn't turn he repeated the word. Daryl faced him and he continued. "She killed two of our own. She couldn't be here. She's gonna be all right. She has a car, supplies, weapons. She's a survivor."

The archer pointed at the sheriff and growled angrily. "Stop saying that like you don't believe it."

"With the way Thea reacted I didn't think letting Tyreese get ahold of her was safe."

Thea bowed her head and eyed her knuckles for the hundredth time.

"She did it. She said it was for us. She wasn't sorry." Rick said.

Daryl shook his head. "Man, that's her, but that ain't her." He turned and walked a few feet down and leaned against the railing. "What are we supposed to do about those two girls?"

Thea hadn't thought about Lizzie and Mika until that moment, and she found she wasn't at all surprised that it was _Daryl_ who had remembered them. It was odd but he had taken a liking to all the kids in the prison, and they all thought he was pretty cool too.

Rick sighed. "I told her we'd look after them." He paused for several seconds and glanced down at Thea. "We haven't told Tyreese yet. I don't know how he's gonna take it."

Daryl straightened up and met Rick's eyes for a moment before nodding. "Let's go find out." He moved past Rick and down the stairs, eying her for a moment when he walked by.

Rick followed and then Thea followed him. She didn't know how Ty would react either, but maybe if she was there it would soften the blow. She was his friend after all; she might be able to talk him down should he get aggressive.

Beth informed them that she saw Tyreese heading down the tombs so they went down the dark hallways one by one looking for the man. After a few minutes of searching they heard feet shuffling down a darker hallway and they stood still at the opening that led into it.

"Tyreese. You down here?" Rick called out in a loud whisper, just in case a walker had got in.

A few seconds passed and then a response came. "Rick that you?"

Thea followed as the two men in front of her moved down the hall slowly. Tyreese appeared in the light of a doorway with a frantic look on his face that had her frowning. What was he so troubled about already?

"You guys gotta see this." He told them, his voice urgent.

"Can we take a beat?" Rick asked. "There's something we need to talk about."

Ty shook his head. "It can wait. Come on."

He turned away to return down the hall and Rick and Daryl shared a glance before they followed. She heard the clicking of Ty's flashlight and then he was telling them to look at something. Daryl moved past Ty to get a better view and she saw it. A rabbit was nailed to a plank of wood in a spread eagle position. Its stomach had been cut open and pinned back, organs were missing. It looked like someone had been dissecting the animal.

"I was just looking for…answers…and I found this." Tyreese explained. "Same person that killed Karen and David did this. Remember the rats at the fence? They showed up the same day she was killed. We got a psychopath living with us."

Rick turned to Ty again, ready to explain about Carol. "Tyreese."

The bigger man cut him off. "We got to find him, Rick. And I'm not going to sleep until we do."

Rick looked back at Thea and then to Daryl. When the latter nodded he took a breath. "Tyreese, whoever did this, I don't think that's who killed Karen." He said slowly.

"Why?" Ty demanded to know.

Before anyone could answer a low rumble came from somewhere outside and the whole building shook. Dust and plaster sprinkled from the ceiling and Thea had to grab the wall to keep from falling over. When the shaking stopped, Daryl swung his crossbow off his back.

"Come on!" He exclaimed, racing down the hall towards the entrance to the tombs. They followed after him quickly and ran through C-Block and to the courtyard. Carl, Maggie and Beth came running out of the door on the other side of the court and ran towards the fence.

"Get back!" Rick called to them so they would hide behind the guard tower.

Thea came to a halt beside the fence and peeked around the tower to see who the hell was attacking them. She gasped out loud when she saw an actual tank surrounded by four cars on each side just outside the outer ring of fences. A man stood on top of the tank with his hands on his hips as if it were just another day for him. The people standing on the ground all held guns of different kinds. They looked like they were ready for a fight.

"Rick!" The man on the tank shouted. "Come down here. We need to talk."

Thea turned to look at the sheriff in anticipation. Who was this strange man and what did he want? The look of fear on Rick's face told her this wasn't going to end well.

"It's not up to me! There's a council now. They run this place." Rick called back to the man.

There was a pause and then: "Is Herschel on the council?"

A woman with a rifle moved to one of the cars and opened the back door. Then she was pulling the older man from the backseat and moving him to kneel in front of the tank.

Thea covered her hand with her mouth, she heard Maggie and Beth call out to their dad.

"What about Michonne? She on the council too?" The woman was pulled from a different car by a man and placed on her knees beside Herschel.

Rick looked like his heart was going to beat out of his chest. Thea could see a vein popping up in his neck.

"I don't make decisions anymore." He yelled.

"You're making the decisions today, Rick. Come down here, let's…let's have that talk."

As Rick turned to look at Daryl, Thea shook her head. This wasn't going to be good at all, and she certainly didn't want the man she had grown to see as a friend going _closer_ to the man with a tank and an army.

Daryl nodded his head though and Rick turned to Carl. He placed a hand on his son's shoulder and whispered something to him before reluctantly going to the gate. He pulled it open and stepped onto the dirt path, Daryl closing the gate behind him, and then began to walk down through the field to the fence to talk with the stranger.

"We can't take 'em all on. We'll go through the admin building through the woods like we planned. We ain't got the numbers anymore." Daryl said to the group of people consisting of Thea, Maggie, Beth, Carl, Ty, Sasha, Bob, and another man from D-Block who Thea didn't know.

Turning to Sasha, Daryl continued. "When's the last time someone checked the stash on the bus?"

The younger Williams sibling shook her head. "Day before we hit the Big Spot. We were running low on rations then. We're lower now."

"Yeah, we'll manage." Daryl replied. "Things go south, everyone heads for that bus. Let everybody know."

Tyreese spoke up from behind his sister. "What if everybody isn't on it when things go bad? How long do we wait?" he wondered.

The archer was slowly moving towards the laundry bins full of guns and Thea glanced down at Rick. He was all the way down by the fences now and the two leaders were talking but she obviously couldn't hear a word they said.

"As long as we can." Daryl told Ty. He grasped one of the bins and rolled it slowly towards the little group. Pulling out a gun, he offered it to Bob. "You good?" He asked, and the two men shared a look that had Thea wondering.

"Yeah." Bob said after a long moment, his voice soft as he took the weapon.

Daryl went back to the bin and picked out two assault rifles similar to the one Thea had used the night before when the herd had taken down the fences. He touched one gun to the back of Maggie's leg to get her attention, and then the other into Beth's hand before he doled out weapons to the rest of them.

As he handed Thea a rifle, he motioned with his head towards the cell blocks. "When it gets bad you go and get the sick and get them on the bus," He told her in a low voice. "They won't make it without a doctor, you and I both know it."

The idea of abandoning her post didn't sit well with her; she wanted to help fight as much as she could. Daryl was right though, the sick wouldn't survive long outside the walls without someone there to help them, so she nodded in agreement. There was no time to argue.

They separated and he went to stand beside Carl. Thea moved to the other side of the guard tower so she could run to the blocks quickly if she needed to. Tyreese and Sasha were to her left, Bob was to her right, and she felt like a war would break out any second.

Resting the barrel of her gun in one of the holes in the fence, she looked through the scope at the man on the tank and was surprised to find he wore a black eyepatch over his right eye. It gave him a menacing look, which he more than likely used to his advantage.

Suddenly the man jumped from the tank and moved to grab Michonne's katana from one of the men by his side. Then he was moving to stand to Herschel's right, placing the sword against the old man's neck in threat.

Thea gasped as Maggie and Beth cried out, and she was sure that it was all going to be downhill from here. What was the strange man hoping to gain from this? Was he just trying to exact revenge on the survivors in the prison or had he come with other intentions? Her answer came from another man who was hanging out of the top hatch of the tank, his arm resting lazily on the gun mounted there as if he wasn't threatening the lives of so many people.

"What we want is what you go. Period. Time for you to leave, asshole!" He exclaimed loud enough for those standing in the courtyard to hear.

They wanted the prison. But where would _they_ go? And would Rick really give it up? Would this mini militia kill them all if they didn't leave? She wished she could be down there to hear what was going on. Wished she could stop the heavy thudding of her heart.

She could see Rick gesturing wildly as he seemed to be pleading with the one-eyed man. And then the sword came away from Herschel's neck slowly. She felt a tiny bit of triumph at the notion that they _may_ make it out of this, but then that hope was squashed like a tiny little bug beneath a giant's boot.

The one-eyed man reared the katana back and then swung it forward, the blade sliced into the kneeling old man's neck and blood spurted from the wound as his head hung on by less than half of the muscles that should have held it in place on the vet's shoulders.

Screams ripped through the air from Maggie and Beth's direction, Thea felt her own throat burn and she realized she had cried out too. Tears stung her eyes but as she heard bullets rip through the air she squeezed the trigger on her rifle and hoped for the best as she aimed towards the group outside the fences. They would pay for this.

The rifle was kicking back into her shoulder but she didn't have time to be fazed by it. She heard a rumble and then the tank was plowing through the two fences that separated the field and the outside of the prison. She tilted her gun and spotted a man in a trucker hat running through the newly formed gap, a second later a bullet erupted from the weapon in her hands and sank itself into the man's chest. He fell to the ground and she moved to find another person to put down, not caring how this might change her.

"I'm out of ammo!" Beth exclaimed over the gunfire.

"Run for the bus, I'll cover you!" Maggie shouted to her sister and then the two were moving away from the fence.

Thea knew it was her turn to move now, and she fired one last shot at a woman in a camouflage jacket before turning to race towards the cell block. A loud boom came from behind and then a portion of the building above her was blown to smithereens, debris raining down on her. She covered her head with the arm not holding the rifle and kept moving, not stopping even as rubble pelted her.

Inside the cell block was chaos and she ran up to her room quickly to grab her pack. She stuffed her axe, first aid kit, and bag of toiletries into the pocket before slinging the bag onto her back and making her way back down the stairs.

"Come on, we gotta get to the bus!" She exclaimed to an older black lady and a group of others who had been cowering in the corner.

The older woman stood and followed, ushering the others to do the same. "What the hell is going on out there?" She demanded to know as they ran.

"You don't want to know." Thea replied sharply, Herschel's partial decapitation coming to mind.

She led them outside and onto the bus where Beth was already waiting. As they boarded the blonde slipped down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" called Thea.

Beth turned to reply as she moved, sparing her only a glance. There were tears staining her cheeks. "I have to find Judith and the kids." And then she was halfway across the courtyard before anyone could stop her.

Nodding to herself, Thea faced the few on the bus. "Okay, everyone stay down. We're going to wait until Beth comes with the kids and then we're getting out of here!"

Another boom came and rocked the bus. The tank was now _in_ the courtyard and members of the attacking group were spilling into the concreted area too.

Beth better hurry.

Feet thudded on the stairs of the bus and the doctor whipped her head around to find Maggie and Glenn. The former searched the bus frantically for her sister. "Beth? Where's Beth?" she cried out.

"She went to find Judith!" the old lady told her, pointing Maggie in the right direction when she asked where the younger Greene girl had run.

Glenn tried weakly to follow his wife as she exited the bus. "We'll find her. She'll be okay." He was saying, but Maggie was quick to push him back into the vehicle.

"NO."

"What? No, you're not going by yourself."

Maggie forced Glenn to sit on the stairs. "I'll be right back." She insisted before turning to run in the direction Beth had disappeared.

"Maggie…" Glenn called weakly, his voice breaking pitifully.

The sound of bullets pelting the back end of the bus had Thea jolting in the driver's seat and she looked towards the back to make sure no one had been hit. "We have to go!" She exclaimed. It wasn't safe for them here anymore.

Glenn stood on shaky feet and stumbled down the stairs. "I'm not leaving without Maggie." He said.

"Glenn, no!" Thea urged him, reaching out to grasp his forearm. He could barely move, much less fight. And he didn't have a gun.

The Korean man faced her and the look in his eyes, the fierceness mixed with fear, was stunning. "Thea, I can't leave her. I can't."

"We can't wait for you." She whispered, eyes wide as she tried to stop tears from falling. She didn't want to leave him behind, but there wouldn't be any other option if he got off the bus.

He was nodding. "I know. I know."

As she shook her head she felt her chin tremble and he clambered up the steps again, wrapping his arms around her in an almost too tight embrace. "Good luck." He whispered in her ear as she clung to him.

When he pulled away she thrust the rifle into his arms. "You too." She replied, her throat tight. He stepped off the bus and she blinked, tears finally falling silently as she watched him run towards the cell block.

For a moment she watched him go, but then the back of the bus received another spray of bullets and she leapt into action. She pulled the lever to shut the door and turned the key in the ignition. The engine roared to life and she prayed this was similar to driving a truck as she shifted gears and pressed her foot on the gas pedal and sped down the courtyard towards the back gate. She didn't slow down as she plowed through the chain link and a moment later they were speeding down a dirt road away from the prison.

Away from their friends. Away from their family.

* * *

 **A/N: Bye-bye prison! There was a big debate on who Thea would escape the prison with. I didn't want her to go with Daryl in Beth's place or tag along with them because I truly believe that the development Daryl had in those episodes with Beth are integral to his story, and I didn't want to take that relationship and development away from him. I hope you guys liked what I ended up doing with her escape.**

 ****Shout out to Rick Grimes for being the kind of friend who will help you get rid of a body!****

 **I would love to hear your feedback on this chapter! Please review if you can spare the time to do so! :)**


	11. Unsteady

**A/N: 50 reviews! This is amazing, I just want to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story!**

 **I apologize for not posting this on Sunday like usual. This chapter took me longer to write, I had a serious case of writer's block.**

 **This chapter is a bit of a filler, but hopefully you guys still enjoy it!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

The old school bus rocked onto two wheels as Thea turned the steering wheel hard to get from the dirt to paved road. She hadn't bothered to slow down to turn, fearing that somehow those people had overrun the prison and killed everyone and would be following after her in that tank to finish the job.

Her heart was pounding in her chest as her mind reeled. Who had made it out alive? Who had been killed? Would she ever see any of them again? That last image of Glenn running into the cell block to find Maggie crossed her mind, and then she remembered how Rick had been _right there_ in the field when the tank and militia came through. The latter was probably dead, the former might have made it out if he could bypass the army that attacked them.

She prayed everyone was okay.

As the bus careened to the left the other occupants made various noise ranging from surprised gasps to sobs. She quickly got the large vehicle onto all four wheels before it could tip over and then they were speeding down the road, her foot pressing harder on the gas pedal until they were going over seventy miles per hour. She needed to get them away, needed to get the sick and elderly passengers somewhere safe.

The thought that she now had to figure out how to keep so these people alive on her own terrified her and she gripped the steering wheel tighter until her knuckles turned white.

Suddenly a scream ripped through the cabin from the back of the bus. She whipped her head around to see where the noise was coming from and spotted the older black woman moving down the aisle towards her. There was blood smeared on the front of her pink nightgown.

"What's going on?" Thea demanded as she turned to watch the road again.

Rose moved forward and stood beside the driver's seat. "Tom got shot! He's shot!"

Thea's heart dropped. "Where? How bad is it?"

"It's his back and his leg. He's losing a lot of blood!"

It didn't sound good, but she didn't need to give the others on the bus that impression so she took a deep breath to calm herself. "Okay, I need you to go and put pressure on the wounds. Try as hard as you can to stop the bleeding until I can find a safe place to stop and then I'll come back and help."

Rose nodded and moved to return to the back of the bus as quick as she could, which wasn't very fast since she was still recovering from the flu that had stricken her body not long ago.

Thea could see a small bridge up ahead. A yellow sign just before it read: "WARNING: HITCHHIKERS MAY BE ESCAPING PRISONERS" and she couldn't help but scoff at the irony. _They_ were escaping prisoners, and if any hitchhikers came along who were also escaping from the terror at the prison she would gladly pick them up.

"Is anyone else hit?" she called back to the others, bringing herself back to the matter at hand.

In the rear view mirror, she saw one of the other survivors, a man this time, stand to survey the people on the bus. He wore a black shirt and khaki pants and had similar hair and build to Glenn and for a second she thought maybe the Korean man had somehow managed to teleport back onto the bus, but when the man turned it was obviously not Glenn.

"It doesn't look like anyone else is—"

A horrified screech interrupted him as the bus rolled over the bridge and Thea's eyes searched the rear view mirror for the source. In the far back row of seats she could see that one of the survivors had turned and was now gnawing on Rose's shoulder. Blood sprayed across the others as the walker tore the flesh off her neck and ripped the artery. Seconds later another survivor popped up from one of the middle seats and snarled, snapped his teeth at a young woman and launching at her.

"Shit!" Thea exclaimed. She slammed both feet on the brakes and the bus lurched forward violently, the tires squealed against the pavement as the vehicle skidded forward several feet and then finally came to a stop.

Screams were coming from behind her and she cut the engine and grabbed her knife from its sheath. She stood and turned to move to the back of the bus and put down the two walkers before they could do any more harm, but when she did she was faced with a third walker coming up from the second row of seats.

It was a young redheaded woman, Thea thought her name was Christine, and it looked like she had received a couple of bullets to the torso. Why hadn't anyone noticed? Why hadn't she pulled over to check on the passengers or had someone take over the wheel for her? All those thoughts were racing through her mind as Christine's reanimated corpse shambled forward with outstretched arms.

Thea lifted her knife quickly and reached out to grab the walker's shoulder for leverage so she could stab the blade into her brain. The body crumpled to the floor in a heap and she yanked her knife out, cringing at the sickening squelch that came with it.

"We gotta get out of here!" Glenn's look-a-like shouted. He started down the aisle towards the front of the bus in a hurried walk, his full attention on escaping the flesh eaters at the rear.

Thea needed to get to the back and try to save those still alive who couldn't defend themselves. She was the only one with a weapon.

When the man reached her he reached out and grasped her shoulders. At first she thought he would turn her around and push her towards the front to get out of the bus, but then he surprised her by spinning them and pushing her towards the walkers that were now climbing over seats and coming down the aisle towards them. She let out a surprised yelp as she landed on one of the seats, the surface was sticky with blood and as she ducked underneath it to hide from the dead she found herself face-to-face with a survivor named Tonya. Only Tonya wasn't alive and hiding for safety, she was staring back at the doctor with wide and unblinking eyes. Her stomach was ripped open and Thea could see greedy hands grasping at intestines and pulling them up to a mouth that was out of view.

Clamping a hand over her own mouth to silence her heavy breathing, Thea tried to make herself as invisible as possible to the creatures in the bus. She could hear screaming from the back end where someone was still being eaten and hadn't had the luxury of passing out yet, and her body screamed at her to get up and help. She was the only one there with weapons though, and it looked like she was on her own since Glenn's look-alike had literally thrown her to the wolves; she couldn't fight them all by herself.

Once the walkers had shambled past where she was hiding she stood slowly and turned just in time to watch the man who had shoved her get swarmed by three of them. The screaming at the back of the bus had ceased and she didn't have any overwhelming urges to help _him_ , so she stood on the seat she had hidden under and slowly opened the window.

She slipped her bag off her shoulders and tossed it out the window and then placed her knife back in its sheath. Hopefully she could get out before any of the now dead and reanimated survivors could notice her. She wasn't in the mood to be dinner.

There wasn't much space for her to squeeze through, but thankfully she was small enough to pull her torso through the opening. As she sat on the ledge and attempted to pull at least one leg through so she could slide down the side of the bus instead of falling on her face she felt a hand grip her boot roughly.

"Shit!" she exclaimed, gripping at the smooth surface of the bus's roof and trying to kick off the walker as it snapped its teeth at her.

As she peered through the open window she saw that it was Rose.

"Seriously." She grumbled to herself before rearing her foot back and then thrusting it forward hard. It connected with Rose's chest and sent the older woman stumbling back into the seat across the aisle, but the momentum ended up causing Thea to lose her grip and she fell backwards out of the window. Her arms flailed in attempt to catch herself, but in the end she smacked the pavement hard on her back.

It knocked the air out of her lungs and shook her ribs violently. She lay gasping on the ground, staring up at the walkers as they reached their arms through the open windows as if they could grab her where she was. She could hear the man still inside screaming as he was more than likely ripped to shreds, and then she heard nothing but a shrill ringing sound.

Darkness overtook her vision.

* * *

Something wet was running over her face when she came to. She turned her head to the side to get away but it followed and she reached out to wave it off. Her hand connected with coarse, mangy fur and she opened her eyes quickly, surprised to find a medium sized golden retriever mix standing over her.

"Hello there." She said, though her throat was so dry it came out in a harsh whisper.

The dog, the tag hanging from its neck was covered in grime but it looked like it might say 'Spike', made a whining noise and pawed at the air between them almost like it was trying to get her attention. It had it.

She sat up slowly, her back making an odd popping noise, and reached out for the animal. "Come here, little guy." She cooed, but instead of obeying it whined again before turning and racing off into the woods.

She watched the dog go for a long moment before the snarling from the bus brought her back to reality. She looked up at the walkers reaching through the windows and sighed heavily. She was alone now, and her body was aching from the fall; she needed to find somewhere to lay low for the night and rest.

Struggling to her feet, Thea stretched her arms over her head to try to relieve some pressure off her side and back. She bent to retrieve her backpack, slipped it onto her shoulders, and slipped into the woods in the same direction the dog had gone. Maybe the pet had a shelter it was holding up in, maybe she could seek shelter there too. Even if it would be only for one night.

The sun was already starting to get low in the sky and she didn't want to be out wandering the road alone when it finally set. For some reason the nighttime made the walkers more vicious and she wasn't sure if it was the sounds of nocturnal animals or something else. Add in the fact that it was more difficult to see the reanimated corpses in the dark and it only made her want to find a safe place sooner.

"Where did you go?" She asked aloud to herself, eyes searching the space between the trees for the dog as she walked.

There was no sign of the golden retriever as she went deeper into the woods and she began to wonder if it had simply been a mirage. Was she even awake right now or was she still passed out on the road? She reached out and pinched herself, when the pain felt real she frowned. _Where the hell was that dog?_

 _Snap!_

Thea's head snapped in the direction of the twig breaking and she froze in place, watching for any movement. Dog, walker, living breathing human?

Her eyes caught sight of the herd about four seconds before her ears did.

The walkers must have been attracted by the noise at the prison as they were shambling in that direction. She counted more than fifteen, not the kind of herd you fought…the kind of herd you ran from. And so she did, turning and sprinting in the opposite direction they were headed and hoping they wouldn't follow.

* * *

Two days. She had been on her own for two days now, not including the half-day after the prison had fell, and she was really not enjoying it. The time she had spent at the prison had made her reliant on human contact and she wasn't exactly proud of that. Just like she wasn't proud of how she had seemingly grown weaker in that time. She was soft. She needed to be hard if she wanted to survive outside of the prison walls.

Her thoughts kept going back to the moment when the man in the eyepatch had sliced Herschel's head off. The screams that followed that moment, then the bullets that began to rain down on them. They weren't prepared for that, they weren't ready to handle something like that despite the preparation Rick and the Council had put in place. They had grown accustomed to a near peaceful lifestyle, they had lost it in the most violent manner.

She had to keep moving now, had to get as far from her former home as possible. The herd she had seen probably wasn't the only one attracted by the explosions and gunfire and she wasn't about to get caught up in the middle of one. Yet with every step she felt her heart break just a little more, her chest tighten in agony.

Who had made it out? Who had perished? Rick, Daryl, Tyreese, Glenn… _the children_? Were they alive or dead? And what if the mini-militia had taken them prisoner? God this was a nightmare.

* * *

" _How are you feeling?" Thea asked in a quiet voice from where she sat on a log beside the fire._

 _Deborah sat opposite her, stroking her large belly lovingly despite the contractions she had mentioned earlier. Thea thought they might be Braxton Hicks, but Deb was pretty far along so she didn't want to write anything off._

 _The expectant mother looked up at her with a smile. "Much better. I think it was what you said, I haven't felt any pain in at least an hour."_

 _Thea offered the woman a grin, nodding her head. "That's great, I'm glad to hear it. You'll let me know if anything changes, yeah?"_

 _She received a nod in response and returned it before standing and moving off into the tree line to find a spot to use the restroom. It was dark out now, the sun having set nearly three hours ago, and she gripped her knife in her hand tightly. Her eyes scanned the area as she moved and she hoped the moonlight would be enough to keep her from getting snuck up on._

 _She picked a tree with a wide trunk and moved behind it, glancing around before reaching to unbutton her jeans—_

" _AAHHHHH!" The scream that ripped through the air and nearly startled her enough to pee her pants came from the direction of the little camp she had set up with Frank and Deborah and she quickly buttoned her pants back up._

 _Her feet stomped through the dry leaves as she sprinted towards the camp. She could hear Deb still screaming and a second later Frank's shotgun boomed to life. The man would never risk shooting just one walker, and Thea's heart dropped at the thought of what they were encountering._

 _As she burst from the trees she skidded to a stop as she was met with the sight of the older man attempting to reload his weapon while his wife cowered behind him. The woman was cradling her left arm to her chest and blood was blossoming across the white shirt she wore, the wound it came from appeared to be a bite on her forearm. A herd of at least a dozen was closing in on them and Thea was nowhere near close to help._

" _Shit!"_

 _As Frank finally got his shotgun loaded and raised it to fire one of the flesh eaters grabbed ahold of his left shoulder and snapped its jaws around his upper arm. He called out and his finger reflexively squeezed the trigger, sending a shot in Thea's direction but thankfully missing her._

" _Deb, run!" He exclaimed, and Thea kicked her body into motion._

 _First, she stuffed her knife back in its sheath, then she scooped her bag up from the ground by the fire and yanked her axe out of the pocket. "Deborah, over here!" she called out, swinging her axe into the head of a walker that got too close to her._

 _As the woman sidestepped her husband, two walkers stepped towards her. Frank called out and despite still trying to fight off the walker on his shoulder he managed to tackle one of the walkers down to the ground. His screams were muffled by the dirt, the two creatures taking the opportunity to chomp down on different sections of flesh._

 _The other walker that was approaching the pregnant woman was closing in. Thea couldn't let this happen, not when Frank had just given his life to save Deb. She lifted her leg to kick a walker to her left in the chest, sending it flying backwards and buying herself some extra time to run the Deborah's side. She swung her axe into the head of the beast and reached out to grab Deborah's good arm and drag her away from the pile that had once been her husband before any of the other walkers could grab them._

" _No, Frank, we have to help Frank!" Deborah was shouting as Thea pulled her out of camp and into the trees._

 _Thea shook her head but didn't stop moving. "It's too late for him, I'm sorry." She didn't let go of Deb's arm, didn't stop moving until she was sure they were far enough away from the herd that they couldn't be followed. And then she kept going until she saw what looked like an old RV._

" _Okay, let's get inside here." She wasn't sure if she was speaking more to herself or Deborah. She stopped and dropped the woman's arm, swung open the door to the RV and stepped inside to check that it was free of walkers. When she was sure the coast was clear she pulled her companion in with her and slammed the door shut._

 _There wasn't much light inside and Thea took her backpack off her shoulders to retrieve her flashlight. "I need to take a look at your arm." She said to the woman who was now beginning to weep._

" _We left him!" Deb exclaimed between sobs._

 _Thea shushed her and stepped forward. "I know, I'm sorry. He was gone, there was nothing we could do for him, Deborah."_

 _The woman shook her head in denial, wiping at her eyes. "He's g-gone." Her voice was a whisper that broke the doctor's heart._

" _I know, I know." She said softly, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder. "But now we need to take care of you, you have to let me look at your arm."_

 _Finally Deborah realized what kind of situation she was in. Her eyes dropped down to the wound on her forearm and she gasped, hand covering her mouth. "Oh god, oh god. M-My baby." She whimpered, wide and watery eyes meeting Thea's._

 _The Brit's heart pounded as her eyes dropped to the round belly and the mangled arm that rested over it. What were they going to do?_

* * *

On the third night she had made her way back to the deer blind she had been hiding in before the group had found her in the pharmacy. Fortunately no one appeared to have found it in her absence and the blanket that she had left behind was still there. It smelled damp, most likely from the rain the previous night, but it was the best she had for warmth so she draped it over her body and propped up against the tree stump to rest.

The woods around her was alive in the night, insects chirping and animals moving around. She found it difficult to sleep with all the noise after spending so much time sleeping in a prison with walls blocking out the sound despite the exhaustion that was creeping in since this morning.

She heard a twig snap below and leaned over the edge of the blind to see what was large enough to snap it with that much pressure. A walker was stumbling by, wandering aimlessly in the night towards nothing in particular. She wondered what it must be like to have an empty brain like that, to have nothing to worry about and need nothing other than food. It must be so peaceful, in a way, to not think.

She wished she could shut her brain off, even for just a second.

Watching the walker go until it was out of sight, Thea's attention was soon drawn elsewhere by an orange glow in the distance. It was too soon for the sun to be coming up, and as her eyes flicked up to the source she was surprised to find it was a fire.

It was a good distance away and controlled to one section of the woods, most likely a cabin or a house that someone had set ablaze. The walker down below changed directions, set a coarse for the flames in hopes of finding a meal there.

Thea's eyes remained trained on the flames as she wondered how the fire had started.

She didn't come up with any valid reasons before the orangey glow lulled her to sleep against the tree stump.

* * *

 **A/N: Lonely Thea! I hope you guys liked how I did the bus scene, I watched the scene where Maggie, Sasha, and Bob clear the bus a few times to try and get the positions of the walkers and what people were wearing correct. I like having the chance to put my own spin on something that happened in canon without having to change anything major.**

 **I did jump around a bit because it was difficult to tell exactly how many days passed between the fall of the prison and Terminus (when I watched I estimated 8 whole days). In the episodes that follow 4x08 time sort of jumps weirdly because of the different groups, so hopefully I got it right.**

 **Please review if you have the time and I will see you all for chapter twelve!**


	12. The Sound of Silence

**A/N: I just want to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story!**

 **And again I'm sorry for posting late. Life catches up with you sometimes, and it was Father's Day on Sunday so I didn't get the chance to finish the chapter until today.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

She woke up as a series of coughs racked her body. Smoke filled her lungs and she tried to roll over onto her other side as if that would help, but as she rolled she was suddenly hit with that falling sensation that comes so often in dreams. Only this time she _was_ falling and her eyes snapped open wide as she caught herself on the plywood of the deer blind just before she could roll off the side to certain death.

Breathing heavy she stared down at the ground far below before quickly righting herself and propping up against the tree. She coughed again, lifted her arm to breathe through the sleeve of the plaid shirt she wore over her tank, and searched around for the source of the smoke.

 _The fire_.

She remembered the flames from last night, the fire must have burnt out completely and now the smoke was engulfing the surrounding forest. She needed to get out of here before she breathed too much in and asphyxiated.

Throwing the still damp blanket off her lap, Thea put her backpack back onto her shoulders and began to climb down the wooden ladder to the ground. She reached into her pack and pulled out the red bandana that Herschel had given her to wear when she was in A-Block and tied it back around her lower face to filter the air she breathed, then armed herself with her axe and began to trek towards the main road.

Hopefully no more herds would be on their way to the prison and she could walk the road without a problem. Hopefully the attention of any walkers in the area had been drawn to the fire, which was in the opposite direction she was traveling.

When she came out on the road there didn't appear to be anything or any _one_ in sight. She still caught herself checking both ways before stepping onto the pavement, something she found comical, and then she was headed away from the prison and hopefully towards a new safe haven.

She was still debating with herself on whether or not she should seek out other survivors from the prison. Part of her thought that maybe a good majority of them could have gotten out, but the other half was telling her that they were all dead and she would never see them again.

And so she was alone again, just like when she had lost Cat and Hank, just like when she lost Frank and Deborah. Things seemed to go in circles for her.

* * *

" _What are we going to do?" Deborah begged, clutching her injured arm and staring at Thea with wide, teary eyes._

 _Thea couldn't think. She had years of training and practice under her belt and yet she_ couldn't _think of a single solution to this. At first she thought maybe an emergency cesarean would be the solution but Deb was only somewhere between 31-34 weeks along, which meant the baby's lungs weren't fully developed and he was only about five pounds; the chances he would survive outside the womb without proper medical care were slim to none._

 _Then she thought that maybe she could cut off the bitten limb, but it had been a while since the bite already and more than likely the infection was already beginning to course through her bloodstream. Plus Deborah would have to survive an amputation, at least until the baby was ready to be born, and that wasn't liable to happen in their current living conditions._

 _Deborah was growing impatient. "_ Thea?"

 _The doctor began to pace the small area of the RV. "Just…just let me think, okay?" she said, rubbing her forehead._

 _The pregnant woman shook her head. "We don't have time! My baby can't die,_ please _." She pleaded._

 _Thea whipped around to face her. "We can't do anything. If I do a c-section now the baby will more than likely die, it's not developed fully yet. And if I cut off your arm it could send you into shock and kill you both, or worse cause early labor and then you might live but your baby won't." She explained. She shook her head, running her hands across her face. "I'm out of options and I-I don't_ know _what to do."_

 _The redhead was crying now, clutching her stomach and shaking her head as if that would help save them. She slid down the small kitchen cabinet to the floor and sat in silent sobs for a long moment before her head snapped up. "If you do the c-section…there's still a_ chance _that my baby boy will live, right?"_

 _Thea wasn't into giving people false hope, but then again it wasn't like Deborah would survive to know the truth if the child did die. "I…yes. There's a small, and I mean miniscule, chance that he could live. But when I say small I literally mean that he would have a big fight ahead of him."_

 _That seemed to be enough for the woman and she nodded, reaching up to grasp the counter and pull herself to her feet. "Then you do it. You do it and give him a chance, please."_

 _She couldn't say no to this woman, not with the way her eyes seemed to plead more than her words ever could; she was very clearly desperate and there was no way Thea could deny her._

 _Hesitantly, she responded. "O-okay. Okay. I'll do it."_

* * *

Somehow it was hot and cold at the same time. Wearing the long-sleeved plaid button-down was making her sweat but when she removed it she only lasted ten minutes before the chill of the wind had her putting it back on; it was a never ending cycle.

Maybe it was the fact that she had been walking since she'd woken up and the day was only getting longer as the sun rose higher in the sky. Or maybe it was the fact that it had been four days and all she had eaten was an old granola bar she had found at the bottom of her backpack on the second day. She had split it in two and eaten it over two days, but she thought she would find more food and so she hadn't bothered to ration it further.

Add in the fact that she had only a tiny bit of water left in her bottle that she was trying to save for when she _really_ needed it and she was hurting. She hated being alone, hated being in this position again. The position where she didn't know when she would eat next and tomorrow wasn't promise.

Slipping the plaid shirt sleeve off of one arm she settled on half cold and half hot. She vaguely recalled doing something similar as a child by sticking one leg outside of the blankets when she slept at night and the memory brought a small giggle up her throat.

Catherine would sneak into her room, crawl across the floor, and grab her foot to scare her; Thea would pretend to be startled even though she woke up as soon as the door opened. Cat caught on to her little scheme after a few months though.

The smile slipped from her face quickly when the memory was replaced with the last time she had seen her sister. The fear that had been in her eyes as she clutched her son close and watched a herd of the dead chase the older sibling. God, she missed them. She wondered if they missed her too, and if they thought she was dead or not.

As she wandered down the empty road with not a soul in sight, not a car or motorcycle, she was struck with how similar she felt to a walker. She had wondered what went on in their decaying heads for a while now, and perhaps this was it: nothing but getting to the next stopping point wherever that may be. She didn't feel like she had any real destination in mind, or any real drive to find a specific place either. And maybe that was exactly how the dead were. Maybe she was one of them now.

No. No, she refused to accept that. She _had_ to keep moving forward and find something, _anything_. She didn't know if she would ever see her friends from the prison again, but she didn't need to mope about it anymore. Things were different now, losing people was even more expected than it was before and she needed to toughen her skin. She needed to think of herself and take care of herself now. She didn't get to give up.

Thea nodded to herself in reassurance and willed her feet to push forward despite the growing hunger and the weakness from the heat and lack of water. Maybe if she could find a stream or something she could refill her water and possible catch some fish to cook up. She just needed to think positively so she didn't lose herself completely to this loneliness.

A snap to her right had her whipping her head in the direction of the trees and raising her axe to grip it tightly. She stopped in the center of the road, eyes searching the spaces between the trunks of wood to find what had made the noise but she couldn't see anything. Was someone following her? Was there a walker? Or was it simply some form of wildlife that lived in the woods?

Where woodland creatures were, was where food hid. She remembered finding out most of the meat they ate at the prison was squirrel and if anyone were around she might have been embarrassed by the way her stomach growled thinking about the food at the prison.

Brandishing her ax, she crept towards the tree line. She needed a squirrel.

* * *

She was feeling mighty proud of herself that night when she had not only caught a squirrel but also managed to start a fire using techniques seen on television. And then she had cooked the squirrel over the flames and devoured a good amount of it in minutes. It was a little on the dry side and she wished she had water, but she refused to drink those last few sips until she was truly desperate.

She had also managed to find refuge in an abandoned train car that was still resting on the tracks. Was this luck? Were things starting to look up simply because she had decided to push her negative thoughts aside? Thea didn't think the world worked that way, but she knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth.

She'd take this little victory as a sign.

* * *

The next day appeared to be pretty uneventful, again she took this as a sign. She hadn't seen any walkers in days and had begun following the tracks instead of the main road. If she could find more train cars to sleep in then she would be set, train cars were better than the open woods.

It was near sunset when she found the sign. It read _TERMINUS: THOSE WHO ARRIVE SURVIVE._ And beneath it was a map of all the railroad tracks that lead straight to a giant star which she assumed was supposed to be this "Terminus" community.

She frowned for a full minute at the sign trying to figure out just why this gave her the creeps. Maybe it was the way the name sounded like a terminal illness, maybe it was the fact that they were _advertising_ the whereabouts of this supposed safe camp. A huge part of her was saying that she shouldn't go, but then a smaller part reminded her of the thirst and hunger she had felt just yesterday, still felt today. If they had resources why should she deny herself the right to safety?

She trekked further down the tracks until a small white building appeared in view with red lettering smeared across the side. It was blood, more than likely from the dead walker laying nearby, but that wasn't what had her gasping. No, it was _what_ was written that stunned her.

 _GLENN GO TO TERMINUS. –MAGGIE_

Maggie was alive but she wasn't with her husband. Had Glenn even made it out of the prison at all? Who else had made it out with the oldest Greene child?

Maggie was going to Terminus, now so was Thea.

* * *

Two days later she was on the verge of falling over dead. She hadn't had much luck on the tracks and had been forced back onto the road by several walkers she was too weak to fight with. She hadn't eaten anything since the squirrel, and those last few sips of water in her bottle were looking even more tempting as time went by.

She had read in textbooks how the body shuts down without nutrients and she could literally feel that happening to her own body. She wasn't sure if it was possible to lose twenty pounds in seven days but she certainly felt that way. Perhaps she was only exaggerating though, having heard stories about people who survived a lot longer without food and water by some miracle.

But she wasn't those people, she was weak. She gave up.

Ripping her backpack off her shoulders she dropped to her knees and unzipped the big pocket. She pulled the water bottle out quickly and unscrewed the cap, swallowing the final few sips of refreshing water. She regretted it instantly when the relief was only temporary and she was thirsty again.

"Damnit!" She exclaimed, arm swinging out and launching the empty plastic bottle up the road a ways. She wanted to cry but she was too dehydrated to even produce a single tear. Instead she bent over until her forehead was pressed against the hot pavement, her palms smacking the surface a few times before she let out a growl and sat up.

With a shake of her head she pulled herself to her feet and put her backpack on her shoulders again. She stalked forward and retrieved her bottle, slipping it back in the pack, and then continued down the road as if she hadn't just had a tiny little tantrum.

She forced her legs to go over the hill that was up ahead, wiping the sweat from her brow with the sleeve of her shirt. When she reached the top she stopped short.

A blue SUV was parked abandoned on the road up ahead, the back end open for the world. There may be supplies left over, she had to look. She picked up her pace and only slowed when she was five feet from the front bumper and a growling came from the grass on the other side of the road.

She crept forward, ax at the ready, but the walker the growls belong to was old and nearly rotted away. Its flesh had melted to the ground somehow, the grass around it gray and dead as one arm reached for her desperately. How long had the thing been here?

"Does it matter?" she asked herself out loud before turning to look through the back of the SUV.

She found a bunch of clothes she didn't need and couldn't fit, there was a suitcase full of pornographic magazines for reason unknown, and then a few empty bottles of motor oil. Nothing of use. At least not that she could tell, maybe someone else would find something to do with the magazines and the clothes.

"Come out from behind the car." A gruff and familiar voice sounded suddenly, breaking her deep thought.

She froze as she heard a gun cock and then peeked around the back of the SUV to see who was about to shoot her. She didn't expect to find a sheriff turned farmer, his child, and a katana wielding woman standing there.

"Thea?" Rick asked, as shocked as she was.

He had a few healing cuts littering his face and his hair and beard seemed longer even though it had only been a week, but it was definitely Rick Grimes.

She grinned and let out a relieved laugh as he put away his weapon and the next second they were embracing in a tight hug. She wanted to cry.

"Oh my god, I thought you guys were dead." She told them as she and Rick parted.

Michonne greeted her with a nod and Carl smiled.

"We thought the same of you." Rick replied. "We thought everyone was gone."

Thea shook her head, the smile still on her face. "I can't believe this. I thought I'd never see anyone from the prison again."

Michonne frowned. "You've been alone this whole time?" Her eyes wandered over the doctor's dirty and thin frame.

"I was on the bus but…someone was shot and they died and attacked us. I barely made it out of there alive."

Carl spoke up then. "Glenn and Maggie were on the bus too, weren't they?" he asked.

Thea was quick to shake her head, to reassure him. "No, no. They got off before we left the prison. Maggie went to find Beth and then Glenn went looking for Maggie—"

"—so they're probably dead." Michonne interrupted.

"No, not Maggie. I saw a sign a couple of days ago for Terminus. Maggie wrote a note for Glenn in walker blood telling him to go, so she's alive."

Rick seemed surprised by the mention of the safe camp. His eyebrows furrowed deeply. "We're headed to Terminus too." He explained.

The Brit felt a flicker of hope inside of her. Maggie was headed that way, _she_ was headed that way, and now these three too. "If we're all going then others could be too. Maybe we'll meet up with everyone there."

Maybe there was hope for them after all.

* * *

That night found Thea, Rick, and Michonne sitting around a makeshift fire in front of the SUV. Carl was asleep inside, having turned in after they had all shared a rabbit that the threesome had caught prior to running into Thea.

She was feeling better now that she had food in her belly, and Michonne had allowed her to drink some of the water she had in a two liter bottle so she was feeling replenished and ready for the trek to Terminus in the morning.

"That was a small rabbit." Rick commented.

Michonne smirked at him. "It was something. Got to hand it to the thing. It traveled well."

The sheriff laughed lightly, a smooth chuckle that had the corners of the women's mouths turning up. "Have you noticed that's all we talk about anymore? Food. I forgot what this feels like."

"Me too. I hope we're able to forget again soon." Michonne replied.

Thea noticed a closeness between the two of them that she hadn't picked up on at the prison.

"We're close. Just got to make it through another day." Rick told them. "If folks there are taking people in they have to be strong." He kicked some dirt into the small fire to put it out. "They have to have a system."

Thea hummed in agreement.

"I wonder if the whole thing's legit." Michonne said.

A branch snapped in the woods to the right of the SUV and Rick stood quickly. His hand went to his gun and Michonne reached for her katana. Thea's fingers wrapped around the ax that lay on the road beside her as her eyes searched for movement in the trees. For a long moment they heard nothing but crickets and Rick finally sat back down.

"We let people in." He spoke, continuing the conversation.

Michonne gave him a pointed look, Thea's eyes were still on the trees as the two spoke.

"We did. So did the Governor."

Rick sighed. "Yeah, it's always the same isn't it? Don't get to know until we know. Maybe this place isn't even there anymore."

Before anyone else got the chance to speak Thea caught movement in her peripheral vision. She whipped her head around in time to see a gray-haired man press a gun to Rick's temple. She hadn't even heard him approaching, neither had the other two sitting with her.

He spoke in a mocking tone as he pressed he gun hard into Rick's head. "Oh, dearie me."

Thea's blood ran cold.

* * *

 **A/N: The group meets the Claimed guys. This should be interesting! I hope this chapter wasn't too boring, I tried my best to keep it from getting too lengthy or have a lull.**

 **On another note, I binge watched the new season of Orange is the New Black in two days and I am honestly still so shocked. Do any of you guys watch OITNB?**

 **Please review if you have the time and I will see you all for chapter thirteen!**


	13. Vultures

**A/N: This chapter was so much fun to write! We have the action and then there is a couple of moments between Thea and Daryl that I hope you guys will like! Enjoy chapter thirteen!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

" _Oh, dearie me."_

The man's voice was so similar to Hoyt's that it sent terrified chills up Thea's spine. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Michonne reach for her katana but it was kicked away by a different man, this one wearing a blue bandana around his head, as he pressed his own gun to the woman's head.

Thea still had her axe in her hand and she made to stand to defend them, but a rough hand on her shoulder shoved her back onto the ground. The hand belonged to a bald man with a goatee and he reached down to snatch her weapon away, an animalistic grin on his face.

"You screwed up, asshole!" The first man with gray hair spoke again. "You hear me? You screwed up. Today's the day of reckoning, sir. Restitution. A balancing of the whole damn universe."

She didn't know what the hell he was talking about, but she could see the moment it clicked with Rick; he knew who these men were and what they were referring to.

A metallic tapping sound came from behind her then and she turned to find a man with long, greasy hair and a decent sized gut by the passenger side of the car. He was tapping his knife against the window to wake up Carl. The kid jumped in his seat and stared wide-eyed at the stranger.

"Shit, and I was thinking of turning in for the night on New Year's Eve." Gray hair laughed. "Now who's gonna count down the ball dropper with me, huh?" There was a moment of silence before he began counting. "10 Mississippi. 9 Mississippi. 8 Miss—"

He was cut off by a voice that Thea recognized instantly. She felt instant relief that they were going to be okay. "Joe! Hold up!" Daryl called, coming from around the blue SUV with his trusty crossbow in one hand and a black trash bag in the other.

 _Joe_ huffed. "You're stopping me on eight, Daryl!"

"Just hold up." Daryl repeated, stepping closer to look at them.

His eyes traveled over Rick and Michonne and then landed on her. For a long moment she wondered why his eyes changed upon seeing her, but they were in a sticky situation now, no time for solving the mystery that was Daryl Dixon.

A man standing off to the side spoke up in annoyance. "This is the guy who killed Lou, so we got nothing to talk about."

Thea knew that if Rick had killed someone it was more than likely the only choice he had, but these men wouldn't see it that way. No, they would only see a dead friend and his murderer.

"The thing about nowadays is we got nothing but time. Say your piece, Daryl." Joe said. He was the clear leader of the pack; no one dared protest.

Thea's heart was pounding as she locked her eyes on the archer. What was he doing here? What was he going to do, take on six guys on his own?

Daryl pointed towards Rick. "These people, you're gonna let 'em go. These are good people."

Seemed reasonable enough, but Joe didn't think so. In fact, he seemed mighty offended by the two sentences. He scoffed and replied with a sneer. "Now I think Lou would disagree with you on that. I'll, of course, have to speak for him and all 'cause your friend here straggled him in a bathroom."

"You want blood, I get it." Daryl said, dropping his crossbow and the trash sack he held. "Take it from me, man. Come on."

"No." Thea whimpered out before she could stop herself, eyes going wide as she shook her head at the shaggy haired man. The way his eyes flickered to her before returning to Joe was the only indication that he had heard her.

"This man killed our friend. You say he's good people. See, now that right there is a lie. It's a lie!" Joe exclaimed angrily, his voice growing louder.

The man that stood to Daryl's left came forward and slammed the butt of his rifle into Daryl's stomach as another man moved to join him.

"NO!" Rick called out in a growl as the two men pulled Daryl back until they were hidden by the blue SUV, Daryl's grunts of pain could be heard indicating he was being beat by them.

"Teach him, fellas. Team him all the way." Joe told him, now appearing to be happy with the turn of events.

Thea turned to see if she could get a look at Daryl but the man who had taken her axe stopped her by placing the blade of her weapon on her shoulder in warning, causing her to freeze on the spot. What were they going to do?

Carl's startled cry brought her back to the situation and she turned to find the long haired man dragging the boy from the car by the collar of his jacket. He placed a knife to the kid's throat and shushed him with an evil sneer.

"You leave him be!" Rick stood quickly and shouted in protest but Joe was quick to shove him back down to the ground before he could so much as take a step.

When Michonne moved to help Carl, the man in the bandana thrust his gun in her face. "You'll get yours. You just wait your turn." He told her in a voice that had Thea's blood running cold.

 _Oh god. No, please not this again_. She begged in her head, her breathing growing heavy with fear at the thought of what these men planned for them. _Please don't do this to me again._

"Listen, it was me. It was just me." Rick pleaded with Joe to let the rest of them go.

The gray haired man leaned in to talk close to Rick's ear, though he still spoke loud enough for Thea to hear what he said. "See now that's right. That's not some damn lie. Look, we can settle this. We're reasonable men. First, we're gonna beat Daryl to death. Then we'll have the girls, then the boy. Then I'm gonna shoot you and then we'll be square."

Joe laughed long and sadistically, Rick's eyes flickered to Thea's fearful ones, and the doctor felt her chest begin to heave and tighten. She shook her head at the sheriff, though she wasn't sure what that was supposed to convey, and then the man with the long hair was throwing Carl to the ground and getting on top of him.

"Stop yer squirmin'." He laughed.

"No." Thea whispered, shaking her head harder. She refused to let this happen to anyone else.

Rick turned to see his son whimpering and his face hardened. "Let him go. Let him go." It was a warning. A warning Joe did not take seriously. The sheriff sent Thea a nod before throwing his head back into Joe's face. The sound of the ringleader's nose cracking filled the air a second before the misfire from the gun he held ricocheted off the pavement and Thea sprang into action.

She reached into her back pocket and pulled out the straight razor she'd taken from the barber shop and then flipped it open, proceeding to stab it into the thigh of the man standing over her. He cried out in pain, dropped her axe, and clutched his leg. Thea moved to crawl towards Carl just as Joe punched Rick in the face and knocked him to the ground.

"Oh it's gonna be so much worse now!" he exclaimed, blood dripped down his face.

The man Thea had stabbed had recovered enough to reach out and grab her by the back of her shirt and pull her up to her feet. He let go of her shirt long enough to grab the hair at the back of her head and then turned to slam her upper half against the hood of the SUV. She cried out in pain but based on the sounds of the others fighting around her she knew that they were going to get out of this. _They had to._

From her new position on the hood she could see the two men had Daryl on the ground as they took turns punching and stomping on him. The man who held her stepped close and pressed his body against her closely, his hips connecting with her backside and sending her into a sudden fit of panic. Sudden and temporary.

She reached down and pulled her hunting knife from her thigh holster and shoved her body back against the man's. He stumbled back in surprise just enough for her to spin around and plunge the blade into his gut. The strangled noise that came from his throat was almost like music to her ears and she pulled the knife out only to thrust it back in a little higher up.

"Jesus." The man holding a gun on Michonne exclaimed in surprise.

Thea thought it was directed towards her, but then she caught sight of the real source of the reaction as the man she had just killed fell to the ground. Joe had gotten Rick in a tight hold, arms pinned down at his side, and then Rick had reacted in the only way possible: he bit a huge chunk of flesh out of Joe's neck.

The blood was spewing from Joe's neck and spraying all over the sheriff. As the gray haired man began to slip down to the pavement, Rick turned his head and spit the flesh out of his mouth and sent blood flying across the road with it.

Thea was startled to say the least, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

As the man with the bandana was caught off guard, Michonne grabbed his gun and turned his hand up so that when he pulled the trigger in surprise he blew his own brains out. Then she turned and shot down one of the men beating on Daryl before spinning to aim at the fat, long-haired man holding onto Carl.

The two males who had once been so preoccupied with each other, the younger trying to escape the older, now stared with wide eyes in Rick's direction, clearly shocked beyond belief by the actions taken by the sheriff. When the older man noticed Michonne with a gun pointed at him, he straighten and pulled Carl from the ground to use him as a human shield with his knife to the boy's throat.

"I'll kill him." He warned, though he didn't sound very confident. "I'll—I'll kill him!"

Michonne pulled the hammer back on the gun. "Let the boy go." She growled.

Behind her, Thea heard Daryl kill the final straggler and she glanced down at the blood that was still wet on her hands and the man who lay on the pavement with her knife embedded in his gut.

Joe was still slowly gurgling on his own blood and Rick reached down to grab the knife from the man's belt before facing the man holding Carl. He had blood coating his face and in his beard, he looked menacing as he glared at the long haired pedophile.

"He's mine." Rick's voice was dark, the look in his eye was similar to the one Thea had seen when he had gone off on Tyreese back at the prison. He stalked forward towards the two standing on the grassy shoulder.

The man dropped the knife and shoved Carl away, holding his hands up in surrender. "Stay back. Stay—Please—"

His pleading fell on deaf ears as Rick thrust the knife into his gut and proceeded to pull it upwards through his fat belly and forced it through the cartilage between his sternum and ribs until it was in his neck, gutting him like a fish.

On the ground Michonne was cradling Carl as they both watched the scene unfold. Thea felt calm for some reason, almost as if she didn't care that Rick was now stabbing the man repeatedly in the neck. He deserved it, after all.

She felt Daryl coming to stand beside her and stare too, but she was too busy counting the amount of times Rick had plunged the knife in.

She lost count after 17.

* * *

Sometime after that Rick and Daryl had begun dragging the bodies into the woods so they wouldn't have to look at them anymore. The adrenaline had started to wear off and Thea was feeling a little shaky as she thought about what she had just done. She had _killed_ a man, and yes he was going to hurt her like Hoyt had and then probably do the same to Michonne and Carl, but she had still taken a life. It was different from what she had done previously. The two kills she had under her belt prior to joining the prison group were nothing like the one she had just carried out; worst of all…she had _liked_ it for a split second before she had realized what had happened.

She sighed softly to herself and wiped at the blood that still coated her hands with an old shirt from the back of the SUV, looking through the open hatchback to the backseat where Michonne was sitting with Carl's head resting in her lap. Thea had insisted on checking out the nasty scrape the younger Grimes had received from the incident, but he had been unresponsively staring at his father until Michonne had managed to usher him into the car to rest.

She would just have to check on him in the morning if he would let her.

Her hands weren't getting any cleaner without water, so she gave up and tossed the shirt back into the floor of the vehicle's back end and closed her eyes, reaching up to rub one hand over the back of her neck where it was aching.

"You alright?" Daryl's voice came out of nowhere.

She jumped only slightly, turning to face him and sighing upon seeing his beaten face. "Probably better off than you," She spoke quietly, not wanting to wake Carl. "I should check to make sure nothing is broken."

He shook his head once, pursing his lips and looking down at his feet for a moment. "Nah, 'm fine." He said, though his voice told her a different story.

He looked hurt, and not just physically. There was a loss in his eyes that had her frowning, she wasn't sure if it was from the prison and Herschel and the group being separated or something more. It seemed like the latter.

"Are _you_ okay?" She asked him, reaching out to rest a hand on his forearm despite the way her movement made him flinch.

He shook his head once, shrugged, and glanced around them uneasily. "Tired."

He meant more than just being sleepy, that much she could tell, but she left it at that. She dropped her hand from his arm and sighed, brushing her hair back from her face and looking in the opposite direction to see where Rick had run off to. When she spotted him sitting on the side of the road where they had been sitting before the attack she sighed again.

"You should get some rest." Daryl commented, eyeing her.

She faced him and offered a small smile. "You should, too." She turned before he could protest and walked around the car slowly. A glance through the back window showed Carl was indeed sleeping on Michonne's lap as the woman stared straight ahead, not even turning as Thea passed by.

When she rounded the SUV, Rick didn't look up from where he was staring at Joe's bloodstain on the pavement. She sat down beside him and fixed her eyes on the same spot, wondering what was going through her friend's head right about now.

They were silent for a very long time, long enough that Daryl had shut the back of the car and sat in the passenger seat to sleep off some of the night's trauma. Finally, Rick spoke up.

"I lost control. I lost it and…the way Carl looked at me…" He voice was quiet and he trailed off, shaking his head.

Thea nodded in agreement. She had seen how Carl had been eyeing his father, but she couldn't blame the kid for being startled. She didn't blame Rick for his behavior either. That had almost been her, she had _almost_ gone that far.

"It's been a long night," She told the sheriff. "Things happened that no one is proud of but Carl will get over it. These things…we have to do them in order to survive. I know that now. I see that now."

He faced her in surprise, mouth opening and closing like a fish a few time as he tried to respond. "You don't mean that. You can't—not you."

Thea didn't look up at him. "I'm not blind, Rick. I've seen things and I know now that you don't get by in this world without a little darkness creeping into your soul." She sounded like some kind of Edgar Allen Poe poem and she looked at her friend, studying the blood that coated his face. "You don't get to come back from this stuff, but you do get to choose how it changes you."

He studied her for a long few seconds before his eyes dropped to the blood that was still stained on her hands. "Are you okay?" He asked, nodding his head at her hands to indicate what he meant.

She was a killer now. She hadn't thought of what she'd done before the group found her as murder, but what she had just done hours earlier was definitely that. She rubbed her palms together, shrugging her shoulders. "I killed him, but the things he was going to do to me…to Carl—I couldn't let that happen again, I _will not_ be put in that position again."

"I'm sorry."

"It isn't your fault, Rick. Don't you dare try to blame yourself for something done by a group of psychopaths."

He sighed. "You should get some rest. I'll keep watch. No arguing."

He said the last as she had opened her mouth to suggest he sleep instead, and she scoffed at him and shook her head. He needed the sleep, but so did she. It was clear that he wasn't going to be falling asleep anytime soon after the events of the evening and so she didn't argue. She stood and moved to the driver's side of the vehicle, opening up the front door and sliding into the seat behind the steering wheel.

Closing the door softly behind her, she glanced to her right to find Daryl staring out his window blankly, his thumbnail between his teeth. So he wasn't sleeping much either.

Thea sighed and tried her best to get comfortable. This wasn't going to be a restful night for anyone.

* * *

A tapping on the glass by her head jerked her from her rest and she squinted against the sun to see who was waking her. Daryl stood on the other side with his crossbow on one shoulder. When he saw that she was looking he motioned for her to come out and stepped back so she could open the door. When her feet had hit the pavement and the door shut behind her she stretched her arms high over her head.

"Gonna go look for a stream or something." Daryl informed her, tilting his head towards the woods in indication that she should come with him.

She nodded and grabbed her pack from the ground where she had dropped it the previous night, slipping it on her back and then retrieving her axe. The knife she'd used to kill the man last night was strapped to her thigh once more, the straight razor back in her pocket.

Carl and Michonne were still asleep in the backseat and Rick was nowhere in sight as they started into the woods to begin their search.

The two survivors didn't speak a word to each other as they walked, mostly because Thea was trying to figure out what was different about the man several steps ahead of her. He had been quiet before the fall of the prison, but now the quiet was heavy and _different_. And there was a sadness in his eyes that had her wondered just what had happened to him in the week they had all been separated.

She wanted to ask, but wasn't quite sure how that would go over with him and so she kept her mouth shut and followed him as he seemed to know where he was going. She had been wandering around the woods and the main road for seven days though, surely she would have spotted a creek or something if there was one.

And then just as she thought that Daryl came to an abrupt stop. He raised a hand to tell her to wait and she came to a standstill and held her breathe and to try and listen for whatever had halted his movement. All she heard at first was the wind rustling the trees, but then came the soft sound of running water not far ahead.

Daryl moved again and in her shocked haze she followed him about twenty yards until they reached a small stream. It was small and hidden and Thea couldn't help but let out a frustrated laugh.

"Are you kidding me? I've been walking in the fucking heat for _days_ , conserving the last sip of my water until I was about to die and there was a stream right here?" she exclaimed angrily.

Daryl was eyeing her like she was crazy and she dropped her bag on the ground, reaching in to grab her bottle and fill it. He did the same with the bottle he held and then with an extra that he had taken from Michonne's bag.

She wanted to wash her hands so she put her bottle away and moved to stand downstream from where Daryl was filling the bottles. Crouching down on the bank, she stuck her hands in the water and scrubbed at the dry blood until it was almost completely gone. Her hands were still tinged a pinkish color but that was better than what they were before.

Brushing her hair back out of her face, she looked up to study Daryl on the other side of the bank. In the light of day she could see the cuts that littered his face from the beating he had received last night. He looked like hell, and blood was still dry on his skin. When he caught her looking at him she stood and stepped back over the stream, moving to his side.

"Let me take a look out you, yeah?" She asked softly and pointed to his face.

He hesitated for several seconds before giving in with a nod, much to her surprise, and sitting down on the ground. He was nearly half a foot taller than her, sitting simply made it easier.

She kneeled beside him and reached into her bag for the small first aid kit that was still there from the prison. She hadn't used it since she was inside those fences, so it should be stocked if she needed anything for any of the more serious cuts.

Tentatively, she reached up with one hand to brush his long dark hair from his face, trying not to feel guilty when he flinched just slightly. Her other hand reached up to prod at a cut that curled up from his eyebrow to the nearly the middle of his forehead. It didn't look like it needed stitches, in fact as she moved on to the other lacerations she found they were all pretty superficial. He had some bruising, which was to be expected, but other than that he seemed to be fine.

"You okay?" She asked him, dropping her hands from his face and letting them rest on her thighs.

He shrugged his lips, nodded once. "Yeah."

Thea gave him a pointed look. "Daryl," she spoke softly. "What happened to you? I can tell there's something wrong, and I don't mean these bruises."

She wasn't sure if it was something in her face that had him looking away from her or if he was just simply uncomfortable with the situation. "What d'you mean when you said you wouldn't be put in that position again?" He changed the subject.

"I-What?" Thea asked, confused for a split second before she realized what he was talking about. He had heard her conversation with Rick last night apparently. She sighed and nodded her head. "Alright, if I tell you then you have to tell me what's going on with you."

It didn't seem like he was going to agree at first, but he turned to her and nodded finally. "Alright." He said.

 _Shit._ She hadn't thought he would go for that, but here she was. She would have to tell him about Hoyt…something she had been avoiding since the night he questioned her about her bruise. But she'd made a deal, there was no backing out now. She stood and crossed her arms over her chest, pacing away from him and then back again to finally explain.

"Do you remember when we found the guys from Decatur?" He nodded and she continued, avoiding his gaze. "Hoyt and Josh attacked me in the library. Hoyt…he…did what I'm sure you are picturing right about now…and I wasn't going to be a victim again last night. I didn't fight hard enough the first time, I had to get away from that guy and I had to stop the other one from doing the same to Carl."

It was probably the most roundabout way of telling him, but she couldn't bring herself to actually say the word _rape_ to Daryl's face. She found herself fearing his reaction but didn't look up from the dirty forest floor as she waited.

"I was with Beth. We got out together. I was with her for a while but then we got separated. She's just gone." He responded, surprising her.

So Beth had escaped the prison but Maggie and Glenn hadn't found her? Was Glenn dead? And what about the younger Greene girl, had she died after losing Daryl?

He hadn't bothered to respond to what happened to her and she found herself feeling eternally grateful for that. She was not prepared to hear what he thought about it at all. Maybe he wasn't either.

"You find those assholes after that?" She questioned.

He nodded, standing and looking a little bit sheepish. "I didn't know what they could do."

She knew he would have never gone with them had he known, but if he hadn't come along when he did they could all be in serious trouble about now. She could tell there was more to his story with Beth but she didn't push it, he didn't look like he wanted to divulge any other information anyways.

"We should head back," She said softly, swinging her pack onto her shoulders and moving past him. As she stepped by him he spoke, once again surprising her.

"I'm sure you fought as hard as you could back in that library." He told her, chewing on his bottom lip when she turned to look at him with wide eyes.

Afterwards she hadn't felt like she had done enough to get away from the two men. She had played it over in her head enough times coming up with different things she could have done and that had only added to her shame and guilt. Karen had told her many times that there was nothing she could do when _two_ guys bigger than her were attacking her, but she had always shook those words off and ignored them. Hearing them from Daryl now, though? That struck a chord with her and she met his eyes for a long moment before facing the direction they would need to go to get back to the road.

"Yeah, maybe." She whispered, kicking her feet into motion again. _Maybe_.

* * *

When they had made it back to the road Rick was sitting against the driver's side of the jeep with his elbows on his knees and blood still on his face. Daryl moved to go and talk to the man while Thea went around to see if Carl was awake so she could check his face and give him and Michonne some water.

She opened the back passenger side door and reached out to place a hand gingerly on the young kid's leg to get his attention. He didn't jump, simply turned his face to look at her, and she held up the first aid kit. "I just want to check your face." She told him quietly.

Michonne was listening to whatever Daryl and Rick were talking about, but she turned her attention to the other two members of the little group to usher Carl into an upright position. He sat up from where his head had been in the woman's lap and sighed, turning so that Thea could see the scrape that ran across his cheek.

Thea pulled the bottle of water from her bag and wet a piece of gauze before handing the bottle to Michonne to drink. Reaching up, she gently wiped the gauze across the bloodied area to clean it up so she could look at it. Luckily it didn't look too bad and she simply tossed the bloody gauze to the grass a little ways away and snapped the first aid kit closed.

"You won't even need stitches." She told him with a friendly smile.

Carl didn't respond, just turned and laid back across the backseat. Not that Thea was bothered by it; he had just endured a traumatic experience and then watched his father rip a man's throat out with his teeth and stab another guy over seventeen times. This behavior was to be expected, she just hoped it didn't last long. And she hoped he wouldn't grow afraid of his father or the steps he had taken to protect his family.

* * *

They had been following the tracks for some time now, Rick and Michonne in the lead as they spoke in hushed whispers. Daryl was between them and then Carl was in front of Thea, who was trailing behind the others as she let her mind race over everything.

Up ahead Rick and Michonne came to a stop. Rick kicked leaves off of a sign that was laying on the ground and Thea saw that it was one of the postings about Terminus.

"We're getting close. Be there before sundown." Daryl commented, earning a nod from Rick.

"Now we head through the woods. We don't know who they are." The sheriff informed them.

Thea couldn't agree more. She didn't want to be walking into a trap.

"Alright." Daryl said, taking point as he led them into the woods.

It wasn't long before they were arriving at the gates that surrounded what was very obviously Terminus. It looked to be the spot where all of the railway tracks met up, the end of the line so to speak. Thea found that comical, but she wasn't sure if the tight feeling in her stomach was anxiousness or suspicion. Either way she didn't know what to think about a place that openly advertised its existence for people to find. She felt like this could be a trap, but it could also be sanctuary.

"We all spread out. Watch for a while, see what we see, and get ready. We all stay close." Rick instructed. As Carl moved to follow Michonne, he stopped him. "You wanna stick with me?"

Carl stared blankly at his father. "It's alright." He said before continuing after the woman who had very clearly become some sort of comfort to him.

Thea tried to ignore the way Rick's head bowed as she moved to find a spot to scope out Terminus, not wanting to get involved in whatever was happening at this time. She didn't think it was her place anyways.

They watched for a while just trying to figure out what was going on inside the cluster of buildings on the other side of the fence. From her position, Thea could see plumes of smoke rising from the center of the structure and she wondered whether they came from a furnace or some sort of a grill.

Eventually Rick signaled them all back together and they buried the duffel bag of weapons he carried. He exchanged his revolver for a different hand gun and then took Thea's axe to put in the bag as well, giving her a weighty .45 caliber instead. Then they climbed over the fence and snuck into the back side of Terminus, weapons out should they need them.

There was a red door propped open with a crate that they slipped through. It led to a hallway and down towards the end was a woman's voice speaking calmly. Rick led them in that direction and Thea felt her heart begin to race nervously. The room they entered was large and a woman sat at a table speaking into a microphone, clearly broadcasting some kind of message over the radio.

Rick walked towards her. "Hello." He said almost casually, startling her. She stood and took off the headset she wore. Rick turned to the group of people at the other end of the room who appeared to be painting signs. "Hello." He repeated, louder this time.

The workers stopped and turned in shock. One man with dark hair sighed heavily. "Well, I'll bet Albert is on perimeter watch." He commented. He moved forward to stand between his people and theirs. "Are you here to rob us?"

Rick took a few steps forward. "No. We wanted to see you before you saw us."

The man nodded and offered a tight-lipped smile. "Makes sense." He paused for a moment, glanced back at the others, and then walked forward. "Usually we do this where the tracks meet." He cleared his throat and opened his arms. "Welcome to Terminus. I'm Gareth. Looks like you've been on the road for a good bit."

"We have. Rick. That's Carl, Daryl, Michonne, and Thea."

Gareth gave them a wave that had Thea frowning. Something was off about this guy. "You're nervous, I get it. We were all the same way. We came here for sanctuary, that what you're here for?"

"Yes." Rick stated simply.

"Good. You found it." Gareth turned to a man in a red hoodie. "Hey, Alex." He called before turning back to them. "This isn't as pretty as the front. We got nothing to hide but the welcome wagon is a whole lot nicer."

The guy in the red hoodie, Alex, was walking over now.

"Alex will take you, ask you a few questions. Uh, but first…we need to see everyone's weapons. If you could just lay them down in front of you."

Thea stiffened and her grip tightened on the gun. She didn't want to give up her weapons, didn't want to be defenseless, but she looked to Rick to see if he was going to agree to it. When he nodded and pulled the gun from his holster she sighed and stooped to place the .45 on the floor. She took out the knife on her thigh and laid it beside the gun, but did not remove the straight razor from her back pocket. _That_ was going to stay where it was.

"I'm sure you understand." Gareth said to Rick.

The sheriff nodded. "Yes, I do."

The others laid their weapons down and Alex came forward. He stopped at Daryl and began to pat the man down as Gareth moved to do the same to Rick. Thea felt her palms start to sweat. He would find her razor and then what?

"Hate to see the other guy." Alex spoke to Daryl, trying to make conversation.

"You would." Rick spoke for the archer.

When Alex moved on to pat down Carl, he asked the kid. "They deserve it?"

Carl didn't hesitate to respond. "Yes."

Gareth had stepped back from Rick now, but he didn't move to pat down the others. Alex moved on to Michonne as he began to speak again. "Just so you know, we aren't those kind of people, but we aren't stupid either. And you shouldn't be stupid enough to try anything stupid. As long as everyone's clear on that we shouldn't have any problems. Just solutions. Okay."

Alex came to pat down Thea and she held her breath, but somehow he completely missed the razor and came around to pat down the front side of her before leaning down and picking up her weapons to return to her. Gareth was walking away now and Alex gave Michonne back her sword.

When he went to grab Daryl's crossbow the man picked it up first, squinting at the red hoodie wearer. Once Carl and Rick's weapons had been returned to them he clapped his hands together once.

"Follow me."

He led them out of the building they were in and down the walkway between it and another building that was a story taller. Thea's nerves had dissipated only slightly; she refused to be one hundred percent at ease in a new place and kept her eyes and ears open for anything out of the ordinary.

"So how long's this place been here?" Daryl was asking Alex.

"Since almost the start. When all the camps got overrun, people started finding this place." Alex explained. "I think it was instinct, you know? Follow the path. Some folks were headed to the coast, others out west or up north, but they all wound up here."

A woman was standing up ahead at a fire pit grilling some kind of meat. It smelled really good and Thea's mouth began to water. They came to a standstill in front of the grill and Thea could see a group of tables nearby. People were eating and chatting, it seemed like a real community.

"Hi," the old woman greeted them. "I heard you came in the back door. Smart. You'll fit right in here."

Alex smiled at them before speaking with the woman. "Hey, Mary, would you fix each of these new folks a plate for me?"

Thea was staring at the meat in anticipation, but then she noticed Rick studying the people sitting around closely with a hard gaze. She frowned and tried to figure out what he was seeing, and then she spotted it.

There was a woman sitting down wearing a poncho, _Daryl's_ poncho, and a man was wearing the riot gear from the prison, similar to the gear Glenn used to wear. Thea's blood ran cold and she took a step back trying to figure out if this was really going to turn into what Rick was assuming it had turned into for Maggie and Glenn and the others who might have come here seeking sanctuary.

"Why do you do it? Why do you let people in?" Michonne was asking as Alex handed a plate to Carl and moved towards her with a second.

"The more people become a part of us, we get stronger. That's why we put up the signs, invite people in. It's how we survive. Here." He handed the second plate to Michonne and turned to grab a third from Mary.

Rick moved forward quickly and slapped the third plate out of Alex's hands. He grabbed him around the neck and pressed his gun to the man's temple as he struggled in surprise.

Carl and Michonne dropped their plates and pulled their weapons, Daryl and Thea had theirs at the ready. The other three looked confused, but Thea knew what was going on. She knew there was something fishy here and it wasn't the meat on the grill.

Rick had pulled a pocket watch out of the pocket on Alex's pants and was holding it up for the others to see. "Where the hell did you get this watch?" he demanded to know.

It was Herschel's watch, the one Glenn had shown Thea. The old man had given it to Glenn when he deemed him fit to be with Maggie.

"You want answers? You want anything else? You get 'em when you put down the gun." Alex spoke in a pleading tone.

Rick wasn't having it. "Look, I see your man on the roof with a sniper rifle. How good's his aim? Where'd you get the watch?" When Alex didn't respond he repeated the question with more force.

Thea's eyes traveled to the other people in the courtyard. They had sprung up from the tables in surprise, some of them producing weapons of their own. And there was indeed a man standing on the roof above them with a gun, but he didn't look like the kind of guy who had much training with it. Thea wasn't concerned.

"Don't do anything!" Alex called out to the other Terminus residents around them. "I have this, you just put it down. You put it down!" The others listened and lowered their guns, keeping them in hand in case all hell broke loose. "You want to listen to me. There's a lot of us." Alex was warning the prison survivors now.

"Where did you get the watch?"

"I got it off a dead one. I didn't think he'd need it."

Rick turned Alex towards the people in the courtyard. "What about the riot gear? The poncho?"

From behind them Gareth's voice rang out in answer. "Got the riot gear off a dead cop. Found the poncho on a clothesline."

That was complete bullshit and Thea knew it, Rick did too.

It seemed Alex didn't like his odds of getting out of here. "Gareth, we can wait." He said, but what he meant was unclear.

"Shut up, Alex." Gareth said calmly.

Rick faced Gareth, Alex still positioned in front of him. "You talk to me." He instructed.

Gareth shrugged his shoulders. "What's there left to say? You don't trust us anymore." Alex called out to him again. "Shut up."

"Gareth, please."

"It's okay. It's okay." Gareth reassured him. "Rick, what do you want?"

The sheriff replied with a growl. "Where are our people?"

"You didn't answer the question." Gareth said before making a gesture with his hand to someone behind Rick.

Rick spun around in time for Mary to fire her gun and the bullet hit Alex right in the temple. Rick dropped the body and then it was like all hell broke loose. People began shouting, guns began firing, and it was chaos.

Rick fired his gun at one of the people in the courtyard. "Carl! Get down, now, go!" he called out.

Their little group ducked down as they turned to run back down the walkway they had just come through but the man on the roof fired at the ground at their feet to keep them from going that way. Rick called out for them and they turned to run through the area with the tables. They didn't get very far before more shots were fired at their feet, sending them through an opening in one of the buildings.

Thea's heart pounded in fear as she heard the door pull down behind them and then the one in front of them closed as well. They were going to be trapped.

"Here!" Daryl called out, leading them to an iron gate. When they pulled on it, however, it wouldn't budge.

Turning, they ran for a door with a white "A" painted on the wall beside it. Daryl was in the lead, followed by Thea, Michonne, Carl, then Rick as shots were fired at the ground behind them to keep them running.

"Come on, this way!" Daryl shouted as he led them out of a corridor.

From above Thea heard a man shout. "Get them off B!" and then bullets showered the ground causing them to turn right. They ran passed a fenced in area with blue tarps and Thea gasped. Bones littered the area, _human_ bones with most of the flesh picked clean off. Some were fresh, some appeared to have been there for quite some time. _What were they doing?_

Daryl led them around a corner and they ran past two shipping containers stacked. From inside the bottom one they could hear people calling for help. "What the hell?" Daryl exclaimed.

"Keep going!" Rick called up to him.

They ran through an open door that was quickly shut behind them and they came to a standstill. The room they stood in had at least 100 lit candles. The floor was painted with different names and on the walls it read: "Never again. Never trust. We first, always."

"What the hell is this place?" Daryl asked, studying the room.

Michonne turned to Rick. "These people, I don't think they were trying to kill us."

"They were aiming at our feet." Rick agreed.

"They were herding us." Thea observed quietly, her chest heaving from the exertion of running and the added bonus of fear.

Rick pointed to an open door nearby. "There." He led the way towards it but before they could reach it someone slammed it shut and they heard a lock turn.

"There!" Daryl called out, pointing to another open door.

As they ran towards it Thea noticed that this one also had a white "A" painted by it. What did that mean? And was this exactly where Gareth and the others wanted them to go? _Shit._

They made it through the door and it led them right to the fences again. Rick shouted for them to run and Thea thought for a moment they would escape, but then multiple people popped up on the other side of the chain link with guns pointed at them. They skidded to a halt near a red train car. There was an "A" painted on it as well and Thea quickly realized that they were about to be put inside it.

"Drop your weapons! NOW!" Gareth shouted from the roof of the building they had just exited. When no one moved to comply he yelled again. "Now!"

They dropped their weapons, each clearly frustrated. Thea didn't take the knife off her thigh, didn't remove the razor from her pocket.

"Ringleader, go to your left. The train car, go." Gareth told Rick. "You do what we say, the boy goes with you. Anything else, he dies and you end up in there anyway."

Rick nodded once at Carl and then slowly made his way towards the train car.

"Now the archer." Daryl followed after Rick. "Now the samurai." Michonne trailed after the two men. "Now the pretty one." He meant her and she hesitated, eyeing Carl wearily. "Go now."

As she moved towards the train car, she kept her arm down by her side to try and hide the knife she kept, praying silently that no one would notice it. Unfortunately for her she wasn't quite so lucky. A shot was fired and she felt pain in her upper arm. She cried out in pain and came to a stop, looking to see what the damage was and sighing softly when she saw it was simply a graze.

"Drop the knife." Gareth told her.

She glared up at him and pulled the knife from its sheath, throwing it angrily to the pavement and then resuming her walk to the train car, holding pressure on the fresh wound as it bled.

"Stand at the door. Ringleader, archer, samurai, pretty one in that order."

They lined up, but Rick wasn't going anywhere without Carl. "My son!" He called out.

There was a moment of silence and then Gareth spoke almost tiredly. "Go, kid."

Carl was slow to follow, walking like he had been told to go to bed without dinner.

"Ringleader, open the door and go in."

"I'll go in with him."

"Don't make us kill him now."

Rick hesitated for a second, glancing back at the three behind him, but then finally moved up the steps. He pulled open the train car door and stepped inside, the others following behind him. Carl joined them a few seconds later and then the door was slowly pulled closed behind them.

Michonne moved to Thea's side and pulled the sleeve of her plaid shirt off her shoulder to inspect the wound, but before she could do anything a thud came from the opposite end of the train car.

 _Shit. Oh, shit._ Thea thought as she faced the dark end in fear. Did the Terminites put them in here with walkers? Was that their intention all along? As feet shuffled towards them, Thea's hand crept towards her back pocket, only stopping as Glenn emerged from the shadows.

"Rick?" he asked in surprise.

Maggie, Sasha, and Bob came from behind him all wearing similar looks of shock and Thea felt herself relax just slightly. They were trapped, but they were together.

"You're here. You're here." Rick said softly.

Four others came into the light behind their friends and Thea frowned, not recognizing any of them. There was man with fiery red hair and another man with a dark mullet. A woman in a hat wearing big hoop earrings and a dark haired girl in pigtails.

"They're our friends. They helped save us." Maggie explained in her southern drawl. Thea had missed that accent.

"Yeah, now they're friends of ours." Daryl told her.

The redheaded man grumbled a response. "For however long that'll be."

"No." Rick spoke up, gaining the confused attention of those around them. "They're gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out." He moved to peek through the crack in the door that was bringing in the light and didn't elaborate further for several moments.

"Find out what?" Redhead asked.

There was a long pause and Thea thought for a moment that he wouldn't respond, but then he spoke words that ignited something in her. A battle cry of sorts.

"They're fucking with the wrong people."

* * *

 **A/N: Boom. They're in Terminus now! And Daryl knows about what happened to Thea! This was honestly probably one of my favorite chapters to write, I really do hope you liked it as much as I did. :)**

 **Please review if you have the time and I will see you all for chapter thirteen!**


	14. Mobilize

**A/N: After the excitement of the last chapter, this one kind of seems a little dull, but I still hope you all enjoy it!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

They were going to get out of this, one way or another. Rick had said so with those six words he had growled moments after they had been locked away in the train car. She didn't want to think that they could be stuck here forever, so she held onto those words like they were a life preserver and she was stranded at sea.

"I'm so glad you guys made it out of the prison." Thea told Glenn and Maggie. "I thought as soon as you left the bus I'd never see you again."

Glenn pulled her in for a tight hug which she gladly returned. She had been worried sick about the couple for eight days. As he hugged her though, his arm came around her shoulders and put pressure on where she had been shot by one of Gareth's men. She hissed in pain and jolted back, bringing her palm up to hold her arm just below the wound.

"What happened?" Glenn asked her, voice laced with genuine concern.

"I didn't drop my knife, thought they wouldn't see it." She explained, moving into what little light they had to assess the damage.

"They shot you?" Sasha spoke up from where she stood with Bob.

Thea nodded her head, prodding the area around the wound. "It's just a graze." She pulled off the plaid shirt she still wore and tore a strip from the bottom with her teeth.

Maggie moved forward and took ahold of the strip, turning Thea a little so she could get to the arm and then tying the fabric over the damaged area. Thea thanked her softly and then pulled the plaid shirt back on.

The redheaded man came forward then, glancing Thea's way for only a second before look at Rick. "You're the clear leader here, so I feel like it is necessary that I fill you in on my mission." He began.

"Your mission?" Rick wondered.

"Name's Abraham Ford. This here is Rosita Espinosa, and that's Dr. Eugene Porter," he pointed to the woman with the impractical hoop earrings and the man with the mullet.

Thea had a hard time believing this _Eugene Porter_ was a doctor; he didn't look like any doctor she had ever met and she had met quite a few. Her skepticism was only increased with Abraham's next words.

"Eugene has a cure for this whole goddamn mess. My mission is to get him to Washington so he can save us all."

She couldn't hold back the scoff that left her and Abraham glared her way.

"You got a problem?" He asked her. He didn't seem particularly happy with her for bothering to express her disbelief.

Thea crossed her arms. "It just seems a little far-fetched. Am I to believe that _this_ man," she pointed in Eugene's direction. "Just _happens_ to know the cure to a world ending virus?"

The girl with the earrings, Rosita, scoffed. "It doesn't matter what you think." She replied. Her voice had an air to it, like she had trained for arguments her entire life and knew how to cut someone down with a single sentence.

Thea wasn't fazed one bit, but before she could speak to it Abraham was talking again.

"You got a right to your own opinion, lady, but Eugene's the real deal. And I'm getting him to Washington one way or another. Even if I gotta fight every son of a dick in this place." He paused for a second and then let out a chuckle. "They seemed nice enough, but I was ready to go. We just got here, but, damn, it was time to go. When I told them about DC, a wink and a nod from the head asshole in charge, they pulled their guns and it was back to our regularly scheduled shitstorm."

He had a colorful vocabulary. It reminded Thea just a tiny bit of being back in the UK, but she was too annoyed with the three newbies to really care about anything old Abe was saying. She turned and walked towards the dark corner opposite the one the other group had been in when she had been forced into the car. She rubbed the back of her neck and let her body rest back against the wall.

"Is this everyone who made it out of the prison?" Sasha asked suddenly. "Before they put you in here, you didn't see Tyreese?"

Michonne replied. "No."

"Good." Sasha whispered. Thea could tell she had a feeling her brother was alive regardless of his current whereabouts.

"What about Beth? Did you guys find her?" Maggie spoke up.

"Daryl was with her when the prison fell." Rick mentioned.

The older Greene daughter moved to the archer with a questioning look in her eyes. "Is she alive?"

"Someone took her. Black car with a white cross painted on it. I tried to follow it. I tried." Daryl answered quietly.

"But she's alive?"

"She's alive."

It seemed Abraham wasn't into the good old family reunion shtick. He sighed heavily. "I'm glad you guys found each other, I am, but we need to start thinking of the bigger picture here. If we don't get out of here, who knows what these fuckers will do to us."

 _That_ Thea could agree on. She stood straight and moved to stand with the group once more.

"We need weapons. Use anything you can to make some. When they come for us we attack." Rick instructed.

She thought for a moment trying to figure out what she had on her that could be used. She wasn't wearing a belt, though she'd need one soon if she continued on with this apocalyptic diet, and her sneakers wouldn't stay on if she tried to use her laces. Then it hit her and she let out a small laugh against her will, drawing everyone's attention.

"Have you lost your marbles?" Abraham asked her, thick red eyebrows furrowed.

"I-no, I just remembered that I have this." She reached into her back pocket and pulled out the straight razor Alex had missed in his pat down. She opened it up and let the light that came in through the crack reflect off the blade.

Abraham actually looked a tiny bit impressed. "Alright, one down. Now let's see what else is in our pockets."

* * *

It was a while later that they had all managed to fasten weapons out of little things. Thea was impressed to see that Rosita's earrings weren't so impractical after all; the woman had straightened them out and put them through the leather of her belt. She could use the weapon to slash or punch an enemy.

Rick was currently using the chain on Hershel's watch to file off a chunk of wood from one of the support beams in the far corner while the others found other things to arm themselves.

Daryl and Abraham were keeping watch on either side of the door, peeking through the cracks to make sure no one was approaching. Thea thought surely they would keep them locked in for the night before coming to get any of them. It only seemed like the logical thing to do; keep the enemy trapped and scared for as long as possible.

Seconds after that very thought crossed her mind she heard voices approaching the car.

"Alright, got four of them pricks coming our way." Daryl warned them, his voice low enough to be a growl.

"Y'all know what to do." Rick said, coming over to stand by the door.

Thea pulled out the straight razor and got ready for an attack as the others got into position with their weapons. She stood to Daryl's right, feeling like her skin was going to vibrate right off from the anticipation.

"Go for their eyes first. Then their throats." Rick instructed quietly.

A man's voice came from just outside the door. "Put your backs to the walls on either end of the car. NOW."

No one moved an inch, but then they were surprised to hear footfalls on the roof of the train car. Thea turned her eyes upward as if she would be able to see right through the steel, wondering if this was meant to be a distraction. A hatch on top of the car opened suddenly flooding them with the light from outside.

Thea squinted and managed to regain control of her eyesight just in time to see something drop into the car. She heard it hit the floor with a thud and they all turned their attention to it. Thea frowned as she looked at what appeared to be a can of something.

"MOVE!" Abraham shouted suddenly. Just as Thea saw the label.

Everyone sprang into action quickly but Thea seemed to be frozen. She blinked at the can, waiting for it to explode, but then as Daryl spun to get away from the offending object he threw an arm out to grab ahold of her by the front of her tank top. He yanked her down onto the ground with him just as the flash bomb went off.

It was loud and her ears were ringing as smoke filled her lungs and sent her into a coughing fit. She couldn't hear anything other than the white noise in her head, couldn't feel anything other than the hard floor of the car and Daryl's hand still gripping her shirt tightly.

That was how she knew some of the Terminus residents had entered the car. The grip on her shirt tightened and then as he was pulled away he held tight until the tank top stretched too far and slipped from his grip. She had tried to reach out to grab him but it had happened too fast. It wasn't until the smoke cleared and her ears stopped ringing that she noticed who was missing.

Daryl, Rick, Glenn, and Bob had been taken from the car. Right from their grasps as if they had never been there at all.

Maggie was beating on the door, calling her husband's name. Sasha looked frantically around as if Bob would pop up out of the darkness. Michonne and Carl both looked equally concerned for Rick's safety.

And Thea could only look downwards at the bunched and crumpled portion of her tank top that had been in Daryl's hand mere seconds ago.

* * *

"What the hell is going on?" Abraham demanded as he beat both fists against the door.

It had been over ten minutes since the men came and took four of their own, and about a minute ago an explosion of some kind had rocked the ground the train car stood on. They could hear screaming and gunfire outside and it sounded like more than a few walkers had made their way into the camp.

Abraham was a military man, Thea could tell by his clothing and his demeanor, so she understood why he would be frustrated about not knowing what was happening outside when it sounded like a war; he was getting annoying though.

"Someone hit them." Michonne pointed out, looking like she was ready to fight the world.

Sasha looked almost desperate. "Maybe our people got free." She suggested.

"Excuse me," Eugene muttered as he shoved past Tara and Sasha, the remnants of the flash bomb can in his hand. He crouched down by the door and started trying to shove the can under it.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rosita asked him.

The man, who Thea still couldn't believe was a doctor, didn't look up as he responded. "I might be able to use this shell to compromise the door. From the sound of things, there may not be anyone left to open it."

Did this guy not have a filter? The men that were taken were their _family_. Rick's _son_ was standing a few feet away and Eugene was suggesting that he was dead?

Tara seemed to be just as frustrated as Thea was. "Eugene, I'm sorry, but shut up."

"Okay."

Carl came forward from the dark corner. "Hey, my dad's gonna be back. They all are." He said, his voice filled with a confidence that told the Brit that he had all but forgotten the things Rick had done just the previous night.

"They are." Maggie agreed, using the chain on her father's pocket watch to sharpen a chunk of wood she had pulled from the wall. "And we need to get ready to fight our way out with them when they do."

Maggie wasn't taking any of Eugene's shit, and she didn't appear to be overly worried about her husband's safety. Maybe she had a lot of faith in his survival skills, maybe she just knew how to hide her fear. Thea wished that she could have either one of those things, but for now she was stuck gripping the straight razor tight and hoping it wouldn't slip out of her clammy palm when they needed to fight. She was terrified, she couldn't help it.

"What's the cure, Eugene?" Sasha asked suddenly.

"It's classified." The man in the mullet replied quickly, earning a scoff from Thea.

"We don't know what's gonna happen." Michonne added.

Abraham, Eugene's clear protector, glared at them. "You leave him be."

"We need to keep working." Maggie called to them.

Thea shook her head, having had it with this bullshit. She was done pretending that this man was going to be able to fix anything. They say don't judge a book by its cover, but she couldn't help but judge him. He didn't look like a scientist, didn't look like the kind of man capable of anything really, and she didn't believe his story for a second.

"I, for one, am dying to hear this." She spoke up, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, it's time to hear it. 'Cause we don't know what's coming next." Sasha said.

Tara came to Eugene's defense. "What's next is we get out of this."

Yeah, right.

"Even if I told you all, even if I provided step-by-step instructions complete with illustrations and a well-composed FAQ and I went red-ring, the cure would still die with me."

Thea couldn't believe this guy.

"I'm not going to let that happen." Abraham told him confidently.

The British doctor took a step forward. "I've got nearly ten years of medical schooling and training under my belt. I'm not an idiot. So why don't you just humor me, huh?"

He was still kneeling by the door, still trying to do whatever he thought he could do with the can. "The best-case scenario, we step out into a hellstorm of bullets, fire, and walkers. I'm not fleet of foot, I sure as hell can't take a dead one down with sharp buttons and hella confidence-"

"Yeah, but we can. And we will." Michonne told him.

Sasha was desperate. "You don't owe us anything. Not yet. But we just want to hear it."

"You don't have to." Rosita said softly, all her faith seeming to be in the man with the mullet.

"Why don't you just shut up and let him explain, yeah?" Thea growled, glaring the Hispanic woman's way.

Rosita's face fell and she took a step forward as if she was going to come at Thea, but Eugene stood abruptly and began speaking, causing her to stop in her tracks.

"I was part of a 10-person team at the Human Genome Project to weaponize diseases to fight weaponized diseases. Pathogenic microorganisms with pathogenic microorganisms. Fire with fire." He began. "Interdepartmental drinks were had, relationships made, information shared. I am keenly aware of all the details behind fail-safe delivery systems to kill every living person on this planet. I believe with a little tweaking on the terminals in DC, we can flip the script. Take out every last dead one of them. Fire with fire." He paused and glanced at them as they stared. "All things being equal, it does sound pretty badass."

"Sounds like bullshit." Thea said before she could stop herself. Because it _did_ sound like bullshit. She didn't believe a word of it, she actually wondered how long it took him to come up with that crap.

Michonne ignored her comment. "So let's get back to work."

As the words left her mouth there came a banging on the door that had Eugene springing away from it and cowering behind the others as they gripped their weapons tightly. Thea felt her heart pounding as she prepared herself for what, or _who_ , would be waiting for them on the other side. When the doors slid open however, it was to reveal Rick. He had an AK-47 in his hands and looked like he was prepared for battle.

"Come on! We fight to the fence!" He shouted at them before turning and firing at some walkers as he jumped down the small concrete stairs.

"You do _not_ leave his side!" Abraham shouted at Sasha and Tara as he pointed to Eugene and then jumped from the train car.

Michonne and Maggie followed behind him quickly, then Thea took her shot and exited the car. She was plunged into a war zone. Smoke filled the air and gunshots rang out around her; she had never experienced anything like this before the prison and she would never get used to it.

"Go, go, go!" Daryl shouted from where he was holding a herd of walkers at bay with his own gun.

Thea didn't have time to spare him a second glance before she was face-to-face with one of the dead. She swung her arm up and shoved the blade of the straight razor through its temple, yanking it out with a squelch before it could even fall to the ground and moving on to the next one in her way. She was not going to die today.

The others were fighting their way to the fence and she saw Rosita reach it first, throwing a blanket from the ground over the barbed wire that covered the top. "Up and over!" The woman called to them before stepping on a box and then crawling over the fence like an expert.

 _Who were these people?_

Eugene was behind her and the others lined up to wait their turn. Tara went over third, Maggie stood in line in front of Sasha, Bob, and then Glenn and Daryl. The Korean man was waving Carl and Michonne into the line in front of him and Thea made for the line as well.

Rick was laying cover fire and shot down a walker that was getting too close to her, she only spared a moment to send him a thankful glance. All but Glenn, Daryl, and Abraham had made it over the fence and just as the first of the three was shimmying over it, the second turned back and grabbed her by the elbow roughly.

"C'mon!" Daryl yelled at her, as if the way he was pulling her wasn't indication enough. He shoved her towards the box the others had used to get over the fence.

Abraham offered her a hand to help her onto it surprisingly, and she took it before gripping the blanket covered fence-top and hoisting herself up. A hand gripped the back of her thigh and a glance back told her it belonged to the shaggy haired man. He pushed her up and over the fence quickly, clearly in a hurry to get them all over and safe, and she didn't have enough time to catch herself on the other side before the force of his hand had her tumbling over the top. Thankfully, Glenn and Bob were waiting just on the other side and grabbed her by the torso to pull her over.

The other three men followed after her moments later, and then they were safely outside of the hellhole that had become Terminus. And she could still hear the screaming and the gunfire behind her as she followed Rick and the others into the woods, but she didn't dare turn around to see the state Terminus was in; she didn't want to see the place ever again.

* * *

Rick and Daryl led them back to where they had buried the duffle bag prior to heading into hell and the former started to dig it up while the rest of them stood around waiting to see what their next move would be.

"The hell are we still around here for?" Abraham asked.

Rick spoke as he pulled the bag from the ground. "Guns, some supplies." He handed Thea her axe. "Go along the fences, use the rifles. Take out the rest of 'em."

"Wait, what?" Thea and Bob said at the same time, confusion crossing both of their faces.

"They don't get to live." Rick told them calmly.

"Rick, we got out. It's over." Glenn tried to reason with the sheriff, who was pulling his trusty Colt revolver from the bag now.

"It's not over till they're all dead."

 _Damn._ Was all Thea could think as she found herself looking Daryl's way to see what he thought. He was watching Rick with an unreadable expression on his face and Thea wondered if he agreed with the man. Then she wondered why it mattered so much to her where Daryl stood on this.

"The hell it isn't. That place is on fire. Full of walkers." Rosita exclaimed from her spot beside Abraham.

The redheaded man agreed. "I'm not dicking around with this crap. We just made it out."

For once, Thea agreed with him. They couldn't just go back and kill them; that would be kicking them when they were down.

"The fences are down. They'll run or die." Maggie added.

Thea couldn't help but speak up as well, speaking in a gentle voice so as not to anger the sheriff. She didn't want him to think they were ganging up on him. "We can't spare the bullets, Rick."

Rick stared at her for a second as if he hadn't thought about that, and then he turned to face Daryl to gauge his reaction. As if what the others had said would only matter if Daryl agreed with them.

Before Daryl could respond, however, movement caught Thea's attention at the same time it caught the archer's. They both turned and found Carol standing not far away, a gun hanging off one arm and Daryl's crossbow on the other.

In a surprising move, the man Thea had come to assume was uncomfortable with all things intimate raced towards the gray-haired woman and engulfed her in a hard hug. The kind of hug that had Carol stumbling back just a bit as she returned it, arms wrapping tightly around him as he lifted her off the ground for a split second. She laughed in response, and the whole thing had Thea wondering just what the nature of Daryl and Carol's relationship was.

Curiosity crept into the back of her mind. And confusion.

Rick stepped forward then, waiting for Daryl to move back before stopping in front of the returning prison survivor. The others seemed happy to see her as well and Thea remembered that most of them didn't know about what she had done to Karen and David.

"Did you do that?" Rick asked her softly, referring to the explosion at Terminus that had given them their window. She nodded once and that was all it took for him to hug her as well.

Thea felt herself grow a tiny bit frustrated. Did he forget that he had banished her? Did he forget that Carol had _murdered_ two of their own, including Thea's best friend? _Did he forgive her_?

"You have to come with me." Carol said suddenly, pulling away from Rick and looking at him with hopeful eyes.

She turned and handed Daryl his crossbow before she began to move away from them. Rick moved back to grab the duffel bag and then followed quickly, the others doing the same. Thea trailed behind them silently, her mind reeling with questions and feelings she wasn't sure about.

The short-haired woman led them to a dirt road and then at least a mile away from Terminus without a word, and no one asked where they were going either. It was like the faith in Carol was universal, to everyone but Thea.

But then they came over a hill and there was a small cabin up ahead, a car parked just out front. Seconds later a figure came through the front door, a large bulky man that Thea recognized immediately. Her heart pounded and she felt her eyes well up. Tyreese.

And he turned to face them and she could see he was holding something against his chest, no _someone_.

Rick dropped his bags where he was and raced forward, his son not far behind him and Sasha following as well. The sheriff pulled his baby daughter, who he thought had been killed at the prison, from Tyreese's arms and hugged her close. His face crumpled as tears flowed from his eyes, happy tears for once, and it had Thea's eyes welling up as well.

The happy sobs coming from Sasha as she hugged her brother didn't help much either, and soon Thea had tears running down her own face. After all the pain and the horror that had just happened, it was so great to get just a tiny bit of happiness back.

Rick was thanking Tyreese by the time Thea managed to pass the others and approach the small group of reunited family members. She didn't want to intrude at first, but Ty was family to her too. They were close because of Karen, but they were still close. And she was happy to see him alive.

Tyreese turned and gave her a smile, holding his arms open to her in anticipation for the hug she was about to give him. Thea wrapped her arms around his shoulders with a grin, and his arms went around her waist and they hugged for several long seconds as Thea let the tears slip down her face more.

God, she had missed him and she hadn't even realized it.

"I'm glad to see you made it." Ty told her as they separated.

She nodded and wiped at her face, feeling a little bit like she had over done it with the tears. "Me too. I was afraid we had lost you."

He chuckled. "It's gonna take a lot more than a tank to take me down."

* * *

"We need to go." Rick was saying suddenly as he eyed the smoke rising from the direction Terminus was in.

They had been resting for about fifteen minutes, everyone enjoying being reunited with two of their own and fawning over Judith. Thea had left Tyreese and Sasha to stand by Carl and greet the baby in his arms. The little girl looked surprisingly healthy for an infant of the apocalypse and Thea had just wanted to make sure she was okay. When she was sure that she was, she had allowed herself a few minutes to talk quietly to the baby.

"Yeah, but where?" Daryl asked the sheriff.

Where _would_ they go? All of their hopes had been in Terminus; where could they go now that it was burning?

Rick didn't have a specific answer, but he answered anyway. "Somewhere far away from there." He said as if it were that simple.

Thea couldn't help but wonder where the surviving Terminites had scattered to and if they would be scattering in _their_ direction. She didn't want to ever see Gareth's smug face again, didn't want to deal with those bastards if she could help it.

Glenn took up the lead, following the dirt path that trailed behind the cabin. Maggie followed close behind her husband, Tara behind her and Carl, carrying Judith, and Michonne side-by-side behind her. Daryl and Carol walked together, followed by quartet of Tyreese, Sasha, Bob, and Rick. The new group brought up the rear, and Thea trailed behind them all slowly and somberly.

It was like all hope had drained from her when Terminus had gone south. She had _needed_ something good to come from that, and yet here they were having escaped with their lives and little else. She couldn't help but wonder just what had happened when the men had come and took four of their own. What had they taken them _for_ exactly? And why had it left a haunted look in all of their eyes?

Up ahead, Rick stopped at a sign for Terminus and used a bit of torn cloth covered in mud to cover the words "FOR ALL. COMMUNITY FOR ALL. THOSE WHO ARRIVE SURVIVE.". He left "SANCTUARY" uncovered, instead writing "NO" above it in the mud. Thea couldn't help but snort at the image and the two of them stared at the sign as the others moved off the railroad tracks and into the woods.

No sanctuary, indeed.

* * *

Thea wasn't sure how long they had been walking but it was starting to get dark now and the smoke from Terminus was almost a speck on the horizon. Her feet were aching and the heat was causing her to sweat and it was rolling into the open graze wound on her arm. She really should stop and try to get it stitched up, but Rick had become a stern leader in their haste to get away from Terminus and she wasn't sure if she could _ask_ for a break.

Whining up ahead from Judith seemed to snap the sheriff out of it though, and he decided that they should set up camp for the night as Carl made Judith a bottle with what little formula remained in the diaper bag.

Tara moved over to Rick and the man spoke quietly to her, though Thea could still hear. "You didn't want to be there. That's why I tried to talk to you." He said.

Be where? Thea wondered. Where had they even picked up Tara to begin with?

"Glenn told me you save his life." Rick added.

Tara shrugged. "He saved mine."

"That's how it works with us, right?"

"Right." Tara seemed almost stunned by the acceptance he had displayed and then as he moved to walk away she held a fist out to him. "Hey."

Rick stopped and stared at the offered fist for a long moment before chuckling and then bumping his own fist against hers. "Get something to eat. We'll start back at sunup."

That was cue enough for Thea to move off away from the group. She sat on the trunk of a fallen tree and pulled her first aid kit from her backpack, which was still speckled with dirt from when they buried it with Rick's duffel bag, and looked inside to see if she still has a needle and thread to stitch up the wound. Thankfully there was some there and she gets it through the eye of the needle quickly before slipping the plaid shirt off the one shoulder and removing the strip of fabric that had been covering the wound.

It didn't look _gross_ per se, but it didn't look good either. She took a deep breath and then stuck the needle through one side and into the other, gritting her teeth together as she made steady work of it. Her hand was shaking by the time she finished, but it was better off closed than left open and so she took a few calming breaths and slipped her shirt back on to keep the stitches covered.

* * *

The next morning they head out at sunup just as Rick had said they would, and Thea was beginning to wonder if the little troop of survivors would be walking until they were dead.

Twigs snapped as a female walker in a tattered dress came towards the group from behind a tree and Michonne moved forward. "I got it." She said, raising her arm to grab her katana off her back. Only it wasn't there, it had been lost at Terminus along with Thea's hunting knife and the guns Rick and Carl had taken in.

Daryl had his crossbow back, though. Of course _that_ would be what Carol saved.

Thea _was not_ still resentful towards the woman and she was _not_ lying about that either. Okay, so she was, but if anyone expected her to just get over Karen's murder they had another thing coming. She wasn't sure if she would ever be able to forgive Carol.

Michonne used the butt of her rifle to kill the walker and then they continued on their path as if there had been no disruption. Moments later a figure came from around another tree and everyone's weapons were immediately pointed at the ready.

Daryl held up both hands, one held a rope with several squirrels hanging off it, and gave Rick a wry look. "We surrender." He joked lightheartedly before his face sobered and he moved to speak in hushed tones with Rick for a moment.

The leader turned back to the group and whistled softly. "Keep close." He said in a loud whisper that had Thea wondering just what the two men had spoken about.

"Ready to get some concrete under your feet?" Abraham asked as they began walking again.

Rick nodded his head once. "I think it's time."

"Oh, that is sweet music to my ears, Officer. Take the next road we come to, try to get back to going north till we find a vehicle. Good?"

Thea was beginning to wonder if Abraham was more comfortable with being under a leader again. Maybe it reminded him of his military days, or maybe it was all an act and he was simply waiting for his moment to lead the group to Washington?

"Good." Rick agreed to the man's plan. He stopped and let them pass him, speaking with Tara, Glenn, and Maggie who were lagging behind. "Tighten it up." He told them.

Suddenly a scream echoed through the woods. Thea jumped, startled by the noise, and the others stopped dead in their tracks as they tried to figure out where the cries were coming from. To figure out if this was a trap or someone actually in need. Thea's heart pounded, the words echoing in her mind as her eyes searched the trees.

" _HELP! HELP, ANYBODY! HELP!"_

* * *

 **A/N: There was a lot of dialogue in this chapter, I know, but this episode had a lot of dialogue. I hope you guys enjoyed it, I know it kind of tapered off at the end there. Next chapter we will meet a certain morally corrupt Man of the Lord!**

 **Please review if you have the time. I do love hearing what you all think.**


	15. Turning Tables

**A/N: This chapter is going to start us on the road to bigger issues. I loved writing this one, I definitely enjoyed the way it ended. Hope you all like it as much as I did!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

Her hands were tied behind her back, her legs bent and tied with a rope connecting them to her wrists. Every movement she made to free her hands sent the rope burning the skin of her ankles. And that confused her even more. How was it that the rope was touching her ankles at all? Had her captors removed her shoes to tie her up better? And then what, they'd put the rope _beneath_ her pant legs so that she wouldn't have any wiggle room? They were smart, she'd give them that.

She was lying face down, could feel the grains of dirt sticking to the left side of her face and rocks digging into the skin of her shoulders. They had taken her plaid shirt off too, leaving her in her tank top. Or _she_ had taken it off before they'd nabbed her…she was having a hard time remembering the details and from the way her head was pounding she could only assume it was a result of being knocked unconscious.

There was a popping sound nearby, like something was being cooked, and voices were murmuring but she couldn't understand what they were saying. It sounded like she was underwater. And then it was silent and she drifted back into unconsciousness again.

* * *

" _HELP! HELP, ANYBODY! HELP!"_

Carl turned to his father, an anxious look on his face. "Dad, come on!" he exclaimed.

Rick simply raised a hand to keep them all from moving and they listened for a moment. Maybe it was to see if any other noises would follow that would indicate this was a trap, but all they heard was more screaming from the man.

Thea didn't want to walk into a trap either, but from the way it sounded this guy needed help fast. She didn't want to stand around waiting any longer, but she wasn't sure if she could move forward and _do_ something without Rick's permission. It was strange, this new role her friend had taken.

"Come on. Come on." Carl repeated, urging his father to make a move.

What felt like forever passed, and then finally Rick nodded his head allowing them to run to the man's aid. Thea had her axe at the ready as the group moved swiftly through the brush to find the source of the screams until they finally approached a massive boulder that was currently holding the man above the four walkers that were trying to get to him. They were clawing at the stone trying to climb to him somehow as he cried out. The man was dressed completely in black and she wondered how hot he must be in the Georgia sun.

Carol, Rick, Michonne, and Carl were there first to take down the four walkers in sight. As Carol stabbed hers through the head, however, her knife got stuck in the rock behind it and she couldn't wretch her knife free as fifth walker made its way over to her with its jaws snapping.

Thea was having mixed feelings about the woman, but she wasn't about to let her die. She lifted her axe and came forward quickly, sinking the blade of her weapon into the back of the walker's skull with a sickening squelch. The beast fell to the ground and she had to grip the handle of the axe with both hands and place her foot on the walker's back to yank the weapon free.

"Woah. Woah." Daryl's voice came from behind her.

She turned quickly and came face-to-face with a walker. It was over six feet tall, towering over her with its impressive height. She gasped in surprise as its arms reached out to grab her, throwing her own arm out and trying to shove at its chest to get it away from her. It was too strong though, and she struggled for several long seconds before an arrow pierced through its skull killing it instantly.

The walker fell to the ground in a heap and she locked eyes with Daryl where he still had his crossbow aimed in her direction. They seemed to stare at each other for a moment before she nodded to him in thanks, earning a nod from him in return.

"We're clear. Keep watch." Rick told the group before turning to the man on the boulder. "Come on down."

The man hesitated for a long few moments before eventually sliding off the rock. When he was on his feet, Thea was surprised to see he wore a white collar indicating he was priest. He was shaky on his feet as he eyed not only the new group but the dead walkers around him.

"You okay?" Rick asked.

The man held up one finger and then turned and vomited on the grass. Once he had finished he turned back to Rick. "Sorry. Yes. Thank you. I'm Gabriel." He said in a quiet, nervous voice.

"Do you have any weapons?" Rick questioned, seemingly unfazed by the man's reaction to the walkers.

Gabriel chuckled in surprise, but upon receiving a look from Michonne he answered. "Do I look like I would have any weapons?"

From the back of the group, Abraham spoke up. "We don't give two short and curlies what it _looks_ like."

Thea snorted at his vocabulary and Gabriel glanced around nervously. Something about the way he was acting had Thea frowning in thought. What was he so nervous about?

"I have no weapons of any kind. The word of God is the only protection I need."

"Sure didn't look like it." Daryl grumbled from behind her.

Gabriel smiled. "I called for help." He gestured to the group. "Help came."

Was this man really so stupid? Thea couldn't help but wonder if he was seriously under the impression that someone would be around to help him whenever he needed it.

"Do you have—have any food? Whatever I—I had left, it just hit the ground."

Thea scoffed quietly, shaking her head. He was an odd one, she had to hand it to him.

"We've got some pecans." Carl said, offering a handful to the priest.

"Thank you." Gabriel said softly as he took them. When Judith cooed in Tyreese's arms, his attention turned the baby and he smiled. "That's a beautiful child." Rick stared at him wordlessly in response, probably wondering what the hell this man's game was, and the priest shifted his eyes nervously. "Do you have a camp?"

"No. Do you?" Rick asked.

"I have a church."

That was the final straw for the group's leader. He didn't react the way Thea thought her might, but she could tell he was growing tired of the nonsense. "Put your hands above your head." He ordered in a growling voice.

When the priest complied, slowly, Rick began to search him for weapons. "How many walkers have you killed?"

"Not any, actually." Gabriel responded with a quiet chuckle.

"Turn around." Rick didn't wait for the man to turn on his own, grabbing his arm and forcing him to face the rock. "How many people have you killed?"

"None."

"Why?"

Gabriel faced him again as Rick finished his search. "Because the lord abhors violence."

Still, there was something _off_ about the man. Something not right about his behavior and the nervous way he answered the questions. Maybe he was simply nervous because there was a large group of heavily armed people surrounding him, but that didn't appear to be the problem. No, something fishy was happening here.

The sheriff squinted at the priest, almost as if he was trying to figure him out. "What have you done? We've all done something."

Gabriel took a deep breath. "I am a sinner. I sin almost every day. But those sins…I confess them to God, not strangers."

Thea wanted to tell him that if those sins were anything that they needed to be concerned with then he should tell them now, but she kept quiet and waited for Rick to decide what they would do. In the end, it wasn't Rick who spoke up, but Michonne.

"You said you had a church?"

"Uh—yes. R-right this way." He said, pointing in the direction the church was. When no one responded he gave a surprised sound and then laughed. "Right. I'll take you there." He eyed Rick warily for a moment before moving to lead the group to his church.

Thea hesitated as the other began to follow, trying to decide whether or not she believed this man. Sure he was dressed as a man of the lord and seemed to uphold the beliefs that came with it, but there was still something incredibly suspicious about his behavior. She wasn't sure if they could trust him or if they should be _following_ him into what may turn into a trap; they had almost just died in Terminus after all.

Daryl brushed passed her then and turned back to look at her with that forever-furrowed brow. "You comin'?" he asked as if she had another option.

She looked towards the group before meeting his eyes again. "Yeah, I'm just not sure we can trust this guy." She told him honestly.

He nodded once, glancing at the others as well and chewing on his bottom lip as he thought. "Just be careful. 'S all we can do. 'Sides, guy's a preacher."

She didn't think things like that mattered to a guy like Daryl but apparently she was wrong. Thea nodded and shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah," she agreed with a sigh. "Maybe you're right."

The archer scoffed and tipped his head for her to go before him. "Ain't no 'maybe' about it."

As she moved passed him a small laugh escaped her at his words and she could have sworn she saw the corner of his lips quirk up just slightly, but then it was gone as fast as it had arrived. She tried to keep that image in her head though, having decided it was a rarity to see _Daryl Dixon_ smile even if it was just a tiny bit. As they walked to catch up with the rest of the group she felt her worry about Father Gabriel dissipate only slightly knowing that Daryl didn't seem too concerned with the man's intentions. If Daryl wasn't worrying too much then neither would she.

* * *

"Hey, earlier were you watching us?" Rick was asking Gabriel when Thea and Daryl finally managed to catch up to them.

"I keep to myself. Nowadays, people are just as dangerous as the dead, don't you think?" Gabriel responded.

"No, people are worse." Daryl answered, moving up to the front of the group.

Gabriel glanced his way with a curious expression but then continued. "Well, I wasn't watching you. I haven't been beyond the stream near my church more than a few times since it all started. That was the furthest I've gone before today." He paused for a minute and then reached an arm out to point in front of him. "Or maybe I'm lying. Maybe I'm lying about everything and there's no church ahead at all. Maybe I'm leading you into a rap so I can steal all your squirrels." He laughed at himself but when he turned and saw no one else was responding positively to his joke he froze, face falling.

Thea had understood it was a joke, but nowadays it was no laughing matter. And given what this group had just endured it wasn't hard to tell why they weren't too keen to laugh at the preacher's words.

"Members of my flock had often told me that my sense of humor leaves much to be desired." Father Gabriel said, trying to backtrack and get himself out of the sticky situation.

Daryl nodded, glaring at the man. "Yeah, it does." He told him bluntly.

Father Gabriel gave a nervous smile and then turned to start leading the way again. He ran into a tree branch and stumbled, shoving the branch away and then continuing on the path. They walked in silence for a few more minutes before a small white church came into view.

It was kind of beautiful, set in a small clearing with trees circling the building. It was off the beaten path and Thea couldn't help but wonder how many people were actually regular attendants of the church. The sign hanging by the dirt road read "St. Sarah's Church: Episcopal".

Gabriel moved to the double redwood doors and pulled keys from his pocket, ready to open up the church for them before Rick stopped him.

"Hold up. Can we take a look around first? We just want to hold onto our squirrels." He held his hand out for the keys and the preacher handed them over slowly before moving back down the stairs to stand on the ground with the others.

Rick, Michonne, Daryl, Carol, and Glenn were the ones to go in and search the church. While they were inside Abraham and Rosita went around back to see if there was anything else back there and the rest of them were left waiting to see what would happen.

Thea felt a prickling sensation on the back of her neck like someone was watching her and she turned, looking through the trees to see if there really was anyone stalking them or if it was merely in her head. The latter seemed to be the answer as she couldn't spot anything unusual between the trees or in the brush. Maybe her paranoia had shifted from Father Gabriel to an external source.

A whistle from inside the church indicated that everything was safe inside and seconds later the sheriff was returning outside. He moved to give the preacher his keys back silently.

"I spent months here without stepping out the front door. If you found someone inside, well, it would have been surprising." Gabriel told him in that gentle voice of his.

Carl moved forward, Judith on his hip. "Thanks for this." He said, motioning towards the church.

It made Thea frown in confusion, but she didn't say anything. If Carl wanted to thank him for letting them come to the church he was allowed to do that, but Thea wouldn't be thanking _anyone_ just yet. Not until she was sure there was something to thank them for.

Abraham moved forward to speak to the sheriff and Thea wondered when he had returned from out back. "We found a short bus out back. It don't run, but I bet we could fix that in less than a day or two. Father here says he doesn't want it. Looks like we found ourselves some transport." When Rick didn't respond, simply continuing to stroke his daughter's hair, Abe grunted. "You understand what's at stake here, right?"

"Yes, I do."

Michonne spoke up from where she was leaning against the railing of the porch stairs. "Now that we can take a breath—"

"We take a breath, we slow down, shit inevitably goes down." Abe interrupted.

"We need supplies no matter what we do next." Michonne argued.

Rick nodded his head. "That's right. Water, food, ammunition." He said no more, simply turning to go back into the church.

Carl followed behind him with Judith still in his arms, and Michonne followed the younger Grimes after sending a glance Abraham's way. As the others moved to go inside as well, the redheaded man appeared to grow frustrated.

"Short bus ain't going nowhere. Bring you back some baked beans." Daryl commented on his way in.

Carol and Thea trailed after him, Thea simply wanting to get away from the feeling of being watched that hadn't dissipated in the slightest. Once they were inside she glanced around the church curiously.

It had been a long time since she had set foot inside a church she had almost forgotten what one looked like. She had been raised Catholic, but when they had moved to America she didn't go back to church until Catherine's wedding. This church looked the same, rows of seating and a podium for Father Gabriel to talk behind. The archway above the podium read "He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has Eternal Life" and she found it incredibly ironic given the way the world currently was.

Sighing softly, Thea dropped her backpack onto one of the pews and took a seat. It felt nice to sit for just a moment and she glanced around before spotting a bible in the wooden slot of the back of the bench in front of her. She almost reached for it, but then she couldn't bring her arm to move to grab it.

"How'd you survive here for so long? Where did your supplies come from?" Rick was asking Gabriel, Judith now on his hip.

Gabriel shrugged. "Luck. Our annual canned food drive. Things fell apart right after we finished it. It was just me."

That _did_ seem mighty lucky. Maybe the old man in the sky was looking out for the Father.

Carl moved forward to take his sister from Rick's arms. "Come here, Judith." He said softly, taking her to the front row of seats and sitting with her, most likely to try and feed her to last bit of formula she had left.

"The food lasted a long time and then I started scavenging. I've cleaned out every place nearby. Except for one."

"What kept you from it?" Rick wondered.

"It's overrun."

"How many?"

"A dozen or so. Maybe more."

Rick nodded after a moment. "We can handle a dozen."

Sasha stood from where she had taken a seat in one of the pews. "Bob and I will go with you. Tyreese should stay here, help keep Judith safe."

Rick looked to the man in question. "That'll be okay?"

Ty nodded, giving the sheriff a smile. "Sure. You ever need me to watch her, need anything for her, I'm right here."

The sheriff moved to put a hand on Ty's shoulder. "I'm grateful for it. And everything else."

"I'll draw you a map." Gabriel stated, beginning to walk towards the podium.

Rick stopped him. "You don't need to. You're coming with us."

The preacher grew nervous one again, stuttering out a response. "I-I'm not gonna be of any help. You saw me. I'm no good around those things."

"You're coming with us." Rick's words were final, there was no room for the man to protest further.

Daryl spoke up from by the doors. "Which direction's that stream you mentioned?"

"Um…it's just about a mile back behind the church. There are some jugs in the back room if you want to fill them with water."

As Daryl moved to the office in the back to grab the jugs, Thea stood with the intention of offering to help him on the quest for water. As she rounded the pew she sat in and made her way down the aisle, however, Daryl emerged from the office and tossed an empty jug into Carol's waiting hands. Thea froze and then moved towards Tyreese to make it look like she _hadn't_ been disappointed in this turn of events.

In the end, Rick took Gabriel, Bob, Sasha, and Michonne to find the food supplies. Glenn, Maggie, and Tara set out to check other buildings in town. And Daryl and Carol went to get water while the DC trio went outside to fix the old church bus.

That left Tyreese and Thea with Judith and Carl. The boy had decided that he wanted to look around the church, only giving a faint nod when Ty had told him to be careful, leaving the three of them alone.

"So, how did you make it out of the prison?" Tyreese asked her slowly, holding Judith on his lap as they sat in one of the pews.

Thea was currently trying her best to keep from staring at the infant for too long, not wanting to seem like she was over eager about wanting to hold the child. "I was on the bus with a bunch of the people who were still recovering from the flu." She began. "We didn't get very far from the prison before one of them died. A stray bullet of all things. Then it was like all hell broke loose, everyone started screaming and more of them started turning." She paused, eyes falling to the words written on the archway. "I barely made it off that bus."

Tyreese was watching her quietly and when she glanced his way she saw a haunted look in his eyes that told her he too had experienced his fair share of horror in the week the group had been separated.

"What about you? You just grabbed Judith and ran?" She asked.

He didn't look like he would respond at first, but she had told him about the bus and maybe that was the only reason he told her the truth. "I was with Lizzie and Mika too," he explained in a quiet voice.

Thea's heart lurched; the girls weren't with him anymore, obviously. She wondered what happened.

"We met up with Carol not long after the prison fell, and then we found this house. It was in the perfect little grove, hidden from the world. We could've stayed there, survived there…"

"Why didn't you?" She asked when he trailed off.

It was his turn to look away, almost like he couldn't face her and say the next words. "Lizzie, she wasn't _well_. I think it was something she had before the end. She thought the walkers were still people, that they were her friends."

That had Thea frowning in confusion. Had _Lizzie_ been the one feeding the walkers at the prison? Was it her who dissected that rabbit in the tombs?

"Carol and I went for water…we came back and Lizzie had killed Mika. She said she wanted to prove to us that they came back the same."

"Jesus." Thea breathed out, her heart pounding in terror. How had this happened?

Tyreese continued. "She wanted to kill Judith next, but Carol managed to convince her to wait. And then…" He trailed off again and she wasn't sure he would finish. "…Carol had to kill Lizzie. It was the only thing we could do."

It was silent for a long moment. Thea wasn't sure what to say, what she _could_ say that would make this better. She couldn't have figured that would happen in her wildest dreams _or_ nightmares, how did this sort of thing just…happen? Where do you go after something like that? How do you move on?

"Ty…I'm so sorry." She apologized softly, a hand moving to cover her mouth in shock. Things like this…they should never happen. _Hell_ this world they were living in should never have happened. God, this was all one fucked up mess and they were expected to just survive it? _Children_ should be living normal lives, not dying and killing and being eaten. These things shouldn't happen.

And Tyreese had no response to it, he couldn't tell her it was okay or that she didn't need to feel sorry. He couldn't say that Lizzie and Mika were in better places now or that it would get better. Reassurances like those were meant for the old world, and this? This was a cruel, new world that took no prisoners and left no stone unturned. And things like these happened. All. The. Time.

* * *

It wasn't long until the groups returned from their individual runs. The supply team came back first, their clothes damp and stinking like old water. But they had two rolling carts and a full trash bin of supplies for them, it was a good haul.

Tyreese moved to help them bring the stuff in, leaving Thea to watch over a sleeping Judith who was nestled in a basket Carl had found in the back. She looked peaceful wrapped in blankets and Thea couldn't help but stare at her beauty.

Glenn, Maggie, and Tara returned with less luck having found only a few silencers for the guns and a few other things that may help in the future. Daryl and Carol came back toting four milk jugs full of water from the stream, and it looked like they might just have a good night.

As the others were unloading, Judith began to fuss in the basket. Thea glanced around to see if anyone else was intending to come comfort the child and saw that they were all busy. She tiptoed to the basket and peer in, finding the baby girl wide awake and not enjoying being left alone.

"Come here, pretty girl." Thea murmured softly, reaching in to lift the baby into her arms. She hugged her close and bounced on her feet slowly to rock the child, thankfully managing to calm her down. "That's better, huh?" Thea had loved kids, she had enjoyed spending time in the pediatric ward of the hospital and she had loved babysitting her little nephew Hank. In another life she might have had several children and lived a happy life, but now there was no hope for that future. She couldn't even dream of bringing a child into the cruelness that they faced every single day they were still alive.

The sun was setting now, Thea propped Judith on her hip and walked down the center aisle to where the group was setting up the food they'd found. It looked like a real feast was about to begin, and Thea felt her stomach growl at the sight of canned green beans and other things that probably wouldn't have even been more than a side dish for her in the past.

"Looks good," She commented as she came to a stop beside Rick. "I haven't seen this much food in a long time." The sheriff nodded his head, turning to face her and having a moment of surprise when he saw his daughter in her arms. She felt her eyes widen slightly and she moved to hand Judith over. "Oh, she was just a little fussy by herself." She tried to explain.

Rick shook his head, holding his hands up and away from the offered baby. "No, it's fine. I just thought she was sleeping. You can hold her."

Judith fussed at being held like she was and Thea gave Rick a small smile before holding the child close to her once again. She rubbed the baby's back and chuckled softly. "I remember when Hank was this age. I never wanted to put him down." She commented.

The man turned to her with a furrowed brow. "Hank? Was he your…?" He trailed off but she knew what he was asking.

"No, no. He was my nephew. _Is_ my nephew. He's out there somewhere with my sister, I just hope I can find them one day." She was staring towards the still open church doors as if Catherine would walk through them any second now with a curly haired little blond boy on her hip and her trademark smile spread across her face.

Rick was quiet for a long moment as he studied her face, and then she felt a hand on her shoulder bringing her back to reality. "You will." He reassured her, and the look on his face was almost like he believed his words to be one hundred percent true.

She hoped they were.

* * *

Night had fallen and they had closed the church up, gathering around the mountain of food that was out for them like a regular apocalyptic buffet. Thea had taken a plate, but had only managed to eat a fourth of it before she found herself incapable of consuming any more of it. Maybe it was because she hadn't had a full sized meal in a so long that her stomach couldn't handle it, or maybe it was simply because even in her starved state she would never be able to eat some of the things that were commonly _canned goods_ in America.

The green beans, the corn, and the Spaghetti-O's were okay but there was no way she would eat _cream of mushroom soup_ or anything similar. How did you even cream a mushroom to begin with? No, she wouldn't even attempt a taste.

She was sitting three pews deep picking at her plate when Abraham stood up from where he had been sitting in the front of the church. He cleared his throat and despite her indifference towards him she lifted her head to listen.

"I'd like to propose a toast." He announced, silencing them all and lifting his glass of communal wine. "I look around this room…and I see survivors. Each and every one of you has earned that title." He lifted the glass above his head. "To the survivors!"

The group around them cheered and lifted their own glasses, but Thea sat still. There was more to this little speech, she could tell.

"Is that all you want to be?" Abe continued, as she suspected. "Wake up in the morning, fight the undead pricks, forage for food, go to sleep at night with two eyes open, rinse and repeat?" 'Cause you can do that. I mean, you got the strength. You got the skill. Thing is, for you people, for what you _can_ do, that's just surrender. Now, we get Eugene to Washington and he _will_ make the dead die and the living will have this world again. And that is not a bad takeaway for a little road trip." He paused, Judith cooed in her father's lap and the sheriff shhhed her softly. "Eugene, what's in DC?"

The mullet-haired man spoke from his seat in the pews beside Rosita. "Infrastructure constructed to withstand pandemics even of this fubar magnitude. That means food, fuel, refuge. Restart."

Thea rolled her eyes. Did Eugene _actually_ think that those structures were for the little people? If they existed then they were currently housing the president and his family and anyone else of importance. A group like theirs wouldn't even make the wait-list on a place like that.

"However this plays out, however long it takes for the reset button to kick in, you can be safe there." Abraham began again. "Safer than you been since this whole thing started. Come with us. Save the world for that little one," he pointed to Judith. "Save it for yourselves. Save it for the people out there…who don't got nothing left to do except survive."

Thea wanted to protest, even straightened up in her seat a little to do so, but when she looked around and saw everyone's faces she froze. They _believed_ this. The wanted this to be real, and if she spoke up now and ruined it for them they might not forgive her.

Rick chuckled as Judith began to babble quietly. The group laughed too and Rick smiled at his daughter. "What was that? I think she knows what I'm about to say. She's in. If she's in, I'm in. We're in." He told the redheaded man who still stood above the rest of them.

The group erupted in cheers and laughter and Thea saw Bob get up and walk slowly outside. He didn't look as enthused about the speech as the others were, and she stood silently to follow. Maybe she could tell him her theory about the "bunkers" not being for them.

It was pitch black outside and she closed the door softly behind her, crossing her arms over her chest to help fight back the chill of the night wind. She had taken her plaid shirt off before they'd begun eating, leaving her in just her tank top. As she walked towards the small cemetery that was nearby, she spotted Bob standing beside a tree. He was crying quietly and she frowned, moving to stand in front of him.

"Bob, are you okay?" She asked him softly.

The former army medic was startled that she snuck up on him and he jumped, eyeing her for a moment before sniffling. "You should go back inside with the others." He told her.

Thea shook her head at him, stepping closer. "No, not until you tell me what's wrong." She said firmly.

Before he could speak again, however, a shadow fell upon them. Thea had enough time to see a tall figure knock Bob unconscious but before she could call out for help something connected hard with her left temple. She grunted, the blow rendering her incapable of standing upright, and fell to the ground in a heap. As her vision grew spotty a figure loomed over her.

And then the world fell black.

* * *

" _C'mon, Momma!" A small voice called out from a distance not too far away._

 _Thea's head was aching something terrible as she sat up in bed, her back cracking with the movement. She sighed heavily and stood, eyes still closed. She stretched her arms above her head to get the stiffness out of her joints and then dropped her arms back to her sides limply. She couldn't remember why her body was so sore, but she made a mental note to never do whatever she had done the previous night again._

" _Momma, hurry!" the voice called again._

 _She opened her eyes and found herself in a large bedroom. A king sized bed with blue sheets and a white comforter took up a good portion of the room. A white chest of drawers with a mirror above it sat across from the bed and she moved over to it slowly, rubbing her neck._

 _The reflection that stared back at her wasn't particularly startling considering it was her own. Her hair was longer now, though. Instead of the short cut she had given herself at the prison it was now brushing her shoulders in sleep crazed waves. She looked well rested despite how tired she felt and her cheeks were fuller than the last time she had seen herself._

"Momma _!" That little voice was so urgent for her to just hurry up already._

 _Groaning again, Thea moved towards the door that the little voice was muffled behind, but she froze as she passed before a full length mirror positioned in the corner between the dresser and the door._

" _What the hell?" She whispered, hands moving down to caress the large and round belly that stuck out in front of her. For a moment she wondered how the hell a basketball had gotten underneath the tank top she was wearing, but she quickly realized that it was no basketball. She was_ pregnant _, and very heavily so._

 _As she stared at the belly in confusion the door opened and a man stepped in, a little dark-haired boy on his hip. "Honey, you're going to miss out on breakfast." He told her._

 _Thea's eyes widened, she took several steps back in shock at the man that stood before her._ Why _was_ he _here? And why was he calling her_ honey _?_

 _A soft chuckle escaped his lips. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. The others are already downstairs waiting, Tommy here was supposed to wake you up earlier but I told him you needed your rest."_

" _Daddy, can I go back downstairs?" The little boy asked, wiggling his legs until the man chuckled and set him on his feet._

" _Go on, your mom and I are right behind you."_

 _The little boy scurried out the door and she could hear his feet pounding on the hardwood of the stairs and then he was out of earshot. The man came forward then and Thea moved backwards until her back hit the dresser and then he was standing close, trapping her. His hand caressed her stomach lovingly._

" _You're always so confused when you first wake up. I love it." Gareth said, leaning forward to kiss her cheek before moving to the doorway once again. He stopped and turned back to her and suddenly he was wearing an animalistic smirk. "I think you're going to really like who I've cooked up for breakfast today."_

* * *

Thea jolted back into consciousness, coughing hard when the gasp caused her to suck dirt into her lungs. She was still lying face down with her arms and legs tied up behind her, her head was still pounding something awful, and she could still smell whatever was cooking. She had spent enough time in the burn unit at the hospital to know what burnt flesh smelled like and it made her gag to smell it now.

"Oh, good, you're awake." A familiar voice spoke up suddenly. Seconds later Gareth was crouching down before her with a smirk on his face. He held a piece of cooked meat in his hand. "Sorry about all this," He motioned to her bound hands. "I was just going to tie you to a pole but Gina here was in the rodeo circuit before the world ended. Hog tying you was her idea."

Thea struggled against the ropes again, but it only sent pain up her arms and legs so she stopped with a whimper, glaring at the man before her.

"I kind of like it. It's effective." Gareth continued.

A groan came from behind him and he turned to look at the source. Thea could see Bob resting up against something. He was sweaty and weak looking, but he wasn't even tied up. For a moment she was confused as to why they would tie her up and not him, but then she saw it. His left leg was missing from the knee down.

Thea's eyes widened and she felt her breathing begin to escalate. The meat in Gareth's hand made sense now, the smell of burnt flesh that had assaulted her nostrils when she'd come to, the others eating ravenously on something. They were cannibals. Oh god, they were eating _Bob's leg_. Would they come for a piece of her next?

"You waking up?" Gareth asked the freshly maimed man. As Bob's eyes opened, the Terminus leader stood. "Ah, you're back with us, huh? Good news is…you're not dead yet. That's a relief, right?" He kneeled beside Bob. "But try not to read too much into the word 'yet' there. It'll just drive you crazy, Bob." He paused for a moment as if he were trying to gather his thoughts. "I wanna explain myself a little. You see, we didn't want to hurt you…before. We didn't want to pull you away from your group or scare you. These aren't things we _want_ to do. They're things we _got to do_."

He grimaced. "You and your people took away our home. That's fair play. Now we're out here like everybody else trying to survive. And in order to do that, we have to hunt. Didn't start that way, eating people. It evolved into that. We evolved. We had to. And now we've devolved into hunters. I told you, I said it. We can't go back, Bob."

Bob was watching him silently, almost in a daze still. Thea wondered if he was in pain. Hoped he wasn't.

"I just hope you understand that nothing happening to you now is personal. Yeah, you put us in this situation and it is almost kind of a cosmic justice for it to be you, but we would have done this to anybody. We will. But at the end of the day, no matter how much we hate all this ugly business…" He pointed down to Bob's leg now, or the lack of leg.

The army medic noticed it for the first time and his eyes widened to saucers as he began to whimper.

"…A man's gotta eat." Gareth stated, lifting the meat in his hand and taking a bite out of it. He chewed for a moment and then spoke again. "If it makes you feel any better…you taste much better than we thought you would."

Thea was going to throw up.

* * *

 **A/N: Well…this isn't going to end well for our dear Bob Stookey. We all know exactly how his story ends. I decided to have Thea witness the events that happened between the Terminites and Bob because this shit is wild and it's going to have a serious effect on Thea.**

 **Please review if you have the time. I do love hearing what you all think!**


	16. The Hanging Tree

**A/N: This chapter took me a little longer, I was trying my best to make the whole situation Thea was in realistic and make her emotions real. The end of the chapter is going to be enjoyable for any of you who have reviewed and requested more Daryl! :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

As Thea tried her best to keep what little she had eaten at the church from coming up, Gareth stood and chomped casually on the meat from Bob's leg. He moved slowly around where Thea lay tied up and she turned her head to watch his movements as he went to stand in front of a door several walkers had piled up behind. The creatures were banging and scratching the glass but Gareth didn't seem affected by it in the slightest.

"It's probably pretty stupid to be here. Dangerous." Gareth began to speak again. "I don't know, maybe not. You can see the threat. That's something. Looking at them makes me feel better about things. My mom used to say that every day above ground was a win. Doesn't really apply anymore, but…you can still get some perspective." He lifted a hand and pressed it against the glass almost like he was trying to _feel_ the walkers on the other side.

Thea wished that the glass would shatter suddenly and walkers would grab him.

"The glass is gonna break sooner or later. Nothing lasts too long anymore." He turned and faced the little group again, his eyes landing on Bob and Thea. "You know, we marked our way here so that we could find our way back after. So stupid, right? I mean…back to what?"

He sure did enjoy hearing himself talk. If only she could pass out again and be relieved of having to listen to him.

Gareth moved to sit on the ground beside Bob again and studied the meat in his hand for a moment. "It wasn't just a trap. It was gonna be a choice. You join us or feed us. You know…" He pulled a knife from his belt and Thea recognized it as the knife they had taken from her at Terminus. "…bears…" He stuck the knife into the dirt. "…when they start to starve they eat their young. If the bear dies, the cub dies anyway. But if the bear lives, it can always have another cub. That was part of the pitch."

Thea rolled her eyes hard, regretting it instantly when the motion caused her head to throb again.

"You know, Greg and Mike came this close to nabbing that grey-haired queen bitch who killed my mom. She drove away with the archer. Greg saw them pull away."

She stiffened, frowning. Daryl and Carol had left? Where did they go? Were they coming back? Were they okay? The questions raced through her mind one after the other.

Gareth was still talking. "Can't wait to try her. I like women better, most of us do. The only reason we haven't eaten your friend here—" He motioned towards Thea. "—is we heard one of your group mention she was a doctor. Thought she might come in handy when we need to keep you alive with… _less limbs._ "

Thea growled into the dirt and tried her best to put her rage into her words. "Like I'd help you freaks."

He ignored her. "My brother Alex has—also currently dead because of Rick—he _had_ a theory that it was because of the extra layer of fat that women have, you know, for childbearing." His eyes traveled to Thea. "Even the skinny girls have it."

Thea wanted to gag again, the way he was eyeing her making her incredibly uncomfortable. He didn't see her as a human being, but as a meal. It was disgusting and alarming and she wanted to get out of here quickly. Her fingertips were turning numb now though, her lower legs losing circulation and gaining that pins-and-needles feeling. Even if she did somehow break free she wouldn't be using her legs right away.

"Like that pretty one—Sasha? I think pretty people taste better too."

Bob, who had been silently listening the entire time Gareth had been running his mouth off, began to whimper quietly as the cannibal leader took another bite of his food, of _Bob_.

"We're going to get all of them. But for starters, you'll do just fine. We did a good job on your leg. We've had practice." Bob was sobbing now. "When we started, it was about making it slow. I'm being a human being here, I'm talking to you. Perspective, Bob. You're above ground. At least you're better off than them."

She couldn't take it anymore. She was five second from telling him to just shut the hell up when Bob started laughing. _He was laughing_. Thea looked him over with wide eyes trying to figure out what he found funny. Had he simply cracked under the intensity of the situation?

One of the men who sat around the fire stood and moved to get a better view of their victim. "Well, he's lost it."

"Lasted longer than I thought he would." The one woman, _Gina the hog-tying rodeo star_ , stated as she followed behind the man.

Bob was laughing harder, his body shaking with the act. "You…you idiots!" he exclaimed, a manic glee on his sweaty face.

"Okay, keep it down." Gareth said, glancing at the trapped walkers.

"I can shut him up." Another man, this one wearing a hood, spoke up.

Bob lifted an arm weakly and tugged down the collar of his shirt to reveal a large bite wound in his shoulder. "I've been bitten, you stupid pricks! I'm tainted meat!" He laughed in a crazed way and dropped his collar.

The group around them cried out in disgust, spitting out the food they had been chewing. One man went so far as to gag himself and throw up.

Thea stared at the wound in her friend's shoulder with wide, unblinking eyes trying to figure out when he had been bitten. Her heart sank into her stomach as she realized for the first time that Bob would die tonight. With his leg he could survive, but this was a completely different thing. _He was going to die._

The man in the hood stepped forward angrily. "Let's just kill him now."

"No, no, we need him." Gareth stopped him.

"We might as well be eating one of them!" the first man exclaimed.

The younger man who vomited cried out. "What the hell's gonna happen? Are we gonna turn? Are we just gonna die?"

Gareth grew impatient with the group. "Albert, calm the hell down. We cooked him. Everything is going to be fine." He reassured.

"Why the hell didn't you check him first?" Gina demanded to know.

"'Cause he was fine!" Hooded man defended himself.

Bob began to yell as loud as he could. "TAINTED MEAT!"

"Shut up!" Gareth told him.

"YOU EATING TAINTED MEAT!"

"I said shut up!" Gareth kicked his leg out, foot hitting Bob square in the face. The man fell backwards onto the ground unconscious, arms spread out at his sides.

The Terminites all expressed their rage at the situation, whether that was through pacing or acting out in some violent manner. Gina angrily knocked over a nearby stack of wood and the hooded man went so far as to get in Gareth's face.

The group was losing it, and Thea wondered if she might be able to wiggle away to safety or something. But that didn't seem likely or smart. Even if she could get away without being seen she would still be hog tied. That would leave her defenseless in the woods at night with walkers; she didn't want to be eaten by the dead after escaping getting eaten by the living.

So she lay there in the dirt with nothing to do but watch as this cannibalistic crew lost their shit over the potential infection. She wondered if they knew that they were all already infected or if they just didn't care.

And then another thought hit her. If Bob was 'tainted meat' would that now make her the target of their hunger? Was she going to die now because Bob had been bitten? The terror of that realization had tears welling up in her eyes and she clamped her mouth shut to hide the sobs that wanted to rack through her body. She didn't want to give the Terminus survivors any reason to pay her any attention right now.

She wanted to get out of here. She wanted to find her sister and nephew. She wanted to see the group again. She wanted to live.

Was that in the cards for her or was this the way it was meant to end all along?

* * *

"We're gonnna take Bob back to the church and just leave him there? We're just going to give him back and let him tell where we are, let them gain the upper hand?" Gina was asking.

Gareth had decided they had no further use for Bob and returning him to the group was the best option. Despite being the leader, the others had no problem questioning him and Thea wondered if that would lead to problems down the line.

"Don't be ridiculous, Gina," Gareth sighed. "He's still knocked out. That's why we're going to do it now and be done with it. When he comes to at the church all he'll be able to do is tell them we're near. And then he'll die. They aren't gaining anything but grief."

The group was silent for a long moment before Gina spoke up again. "What about her? What are we doing with the doctor?"

Thea turned her head to face them then, wide eyed as she listened closely. If she was going to die she wanted to hear it, wanted to prepare herself for that reality. She didn't think any amount of preparation could prepare her for the Terminites _eating_ her, though.

"We're gonna keep her. As planned. She'll come in handy when we need to keep others alive." Gareth explained to them.

Shit. They were going to take her prisoner? For how long? Forever, or just until they figured out how to do her job themselves and didn't need her anymore? Her heart was racing a mile a minute as the different scenarios flew through her mind. Either way she would eventually die a painful death.

Her thoughts went to the group at the church. She would never see any of them again, would she? Rick, Tyreese, baby Judith. She wasn't going to see any other them again. Glenn and Maggie. These people were her _family_ now. And what about Daryl? When he returned with Carol and found her missing would he be upset or would he shrug it off in that way of his? And why was it that she felt a dread in her stomach at the notion that she would never see that sweaty redneck's face again?

Tears welled up in her eyes and she let out a quiet sob, turning her head away from the Terminites and resting her cheek against the cool dirt. Her eyes locked on one of the trees nearby as tears slipped over the bridge of her nose and dripped into the soil beneath her head. She didn't want to give up but she didn't have any way out of this. She was helpless.

"Don't be like that, Doc." Gareth's voice came from above her as he stood over her body and looked down at her grief stricken face. "You'll come to like it with us. Eventually. Eventually, it will be your only reality and you'll be begging us for a hunk of flesh to sink your teeth into."

Thea scowled at him, her blood boiling. "I will _never_ be like you." She replied in a harsh whisper, her voice betraying her emotions to him.

"We'll see." He motioned for one of the others to join him by her and then a second later she felt hands grab her by the shoulders and the knees.

She let out a squeak of surprise as she was lifted from the ground by Gareth and the man who wore the hoodie. They carried her over Bob's unconscious body and then set her down by the wall of the building their little camp was behind. The grass was taller around her here and she had to really lift her head to get a view of the Terminites as they began packing up their gear.

Were they going to leave her here?

Gareth seemed to sense her thoughts. "We're going to the church. We'll drop Bob off and wait for Rick to make the idiotic move to come for us and then we'll go in and kill them all. When we get back…maybe we'll let you out of those ropes for a bit. So long as you promise not to run."

Thea grumbled. "Don't you ever shut up?" The words came out before she could stop herself and the smirk fell from Gareth's face a second later. _Well shit._

The cannibal came forward and crouched beside her, a scowl on his face. "That wasn't very nice." He stated matter-of-factly. His hand shot out and his knuckles connected with her jaw, sending her head into the dirt and causing her neck to crack in a painful way due to the way her head was turned.

"Ah. Shit." Thea groaned, squeezing her eyes shut as pain shot through her skull. Her head had already been pounding from where they'd knocked her unconscious earlier, this wasn't going to help.

Gareth stood with his smirk back in place. "We'll be back. Don't go anywhere." He was smug, she wanted to rub his face into the dirt.

* * *

She waited a full fifteen minutes after they left before she decided it was time to make her escape. She began to struggle against the rope binding her but with every tug of her arms she ended up with searing pain in her ankles. The hogtie was an effective technique indeed, and she had to admit that Gina was smart to use it. It was looking like there was no way out when realization struck her.

 _They had to be the dumbest sons of bitches out there_.

Thea dug two fingers into her back pocket and retrieved the straight razor where it was still safely residing. How the Terminites had failed to find it for a second time was beyond her, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She just thanked whatever God that was watching over her for their stupidity.

Using the blade she began to saw at the line of rope that connected her bound hands to her bound feet. The motion caused the rope to burn at the delicate skin of her wrists but she grit her teeth and tried her best to ignore it. She needed to get out of here before Gareth and his gang of cannibals returned. She refused to be someone's dinner or prisoner.

"Come on." She muttered to herself in exasperation. This was taking longer than she would have hoped, maybe it was time to sharpen the blade on her trusty straight razor.

She had worked her way through what she hoped was a good portion of the rope that held her wrists to her ankles when she heard it. A low groan floated through the air from the trees. She froze and craned her neck over the tall grass in search for the walker that made the noise.

When the Terminites had left, they had left their fire burning. Thea was cursing them now as a male walker came stumbling out of the woods and headed directly towards the fire. She stopped cutting at the rope, not wanting to make any noise to draw the attention of the creature; it wouldn't do her any good to be tied up with a walker roaming nearby.

Unfortunately, God didn't appear to be on her side this evening. As the walker made towards the fire the last bit of rope that had yet to be cut snapped from the weight of her legs. Her feet went smacking into the ground hard enough to crack her toes and she let out an involuntary gasp of pain, which drew the walker's attention.

"Shit." She whispered to herself as it turned and, upon spotting her in the grass, began to growl and shamble towards her.

Thea turned the knife and tried to get through the rope around her wrists to free her hands but the dead guy was much faster than the dull blade. He reached her before she made a dent on the rope and she had to think fast. She rolled over onto her back, crying out as the straight razor sliced into the back of her thigh, and lifted her still bound legs to kick the walkers square in the chest. The force sent the clumsy creature to the ground several feet away where it simply stood again and came back towards her. She put more force behind her second kick and this time the walker stumbled back and fell on the pole Bob had been propped up against. The pole went straight through the dead guy's chest and that was enough to keep it from getting to its feet again. Its arms swung wildly at her as its growls became louder and frenzied.

"Okay," She muttered to herself, moving into a sitting position and working the knife behind her back so she could start on the ropes again. She kept her eyes locked on the walker, just in case it managed to get free.

It only took about five minutes before she felt the bindings on her wrist go slack. She sighed with relief and slowly brought her hands back in front of her, gritting her teeth as she movement shot fire through her sore shoulders. Pulling her wrists out of the rope she took a moment to examine the raw burns across her skin. The flesh around her wrists ranged from a pinkish tone to full scale bleeding from the twine that made up the rope.

She made quick work of the ties on her ankles, finding them in a similar state to her wrists, and then stood on shaky legs. She had to lean against the wall to keep herself upright while blood returned to the lower half of her body. Glancing around, she wondered where the hell they had taken her shoes.

They weren't anywhere in sight and she didn't have time to look further because the glass on the door that held back the group of walkers was suddenly breaking. She needed to run.

* * *

She didn't know which direction would lead her back to the church. She didn't know if Gareth and the others had managed to overpower her friends. She didn't know if the herd that had escaped the school was still following her. She didn't know if her group had beat the Terminites and assumed she was dead. She didn't know shit.

Another twig snapped under her bare foot as she raced through the woods. She let out a small cry of pain as the sharp end dug into her sole but continued on. There wasn't any time to stop and pick out splinters. She hadn't heard any noise behind her to indicate the walkers were still following, but she was not about to stop and find out. No, she needed to find someplace safe and fast.

The cut on the back of her thigh from her straight razor was protesting her every move and Thea could feel blood seeping through her pants, but she had nothing to wrap it with and no time for that either; it would have to wait.

She jumped over a log that looked familiar and froze, turning to look back at it in confusion. Surely there was more than one fallen tree in the woods, but this one looked exactly like one she had passed five minutes ago.

Damn.

"So now I'm running in circles." She muttered to herself, heaving to catch her breath. She turned and glanced around at the trees trying to figure out the direction she should be going in. This was making her thoroughly regret not paying much attention to how Daryl worked. He seemed to know north from south and east from west naturally and here she was completely lost. Maybe if she got back to the group she could ask him for some tips.

The snap of a twig from the direction she had originally came startled her and she immediately took off again, not wanting to stick around and find out what had made the noise. _A walker, probably_.

And then, just as she passed by a tree her foot got caught on a root and she went sprawling onto the ground. Her head hit something hard and her vision grew spotty. Then it was black again.

* * *

Something was shaking her. Her mind was registering it but she couldn't bring herself to move away from the offensive object. Her tongue felt large and dry in her mouth and she couldn't open her eyes, almost like someone had superglued her eyelids shut.

"Thea." A voice said in a low whisper, a hand shook her shoulder.

The last thing she remembered was running for her life in the woods, something following close behind. Was it walkers? Was it Gareth? At the thought of the man, an image of him chowing down on a chunk of Bob's leg came to mind and she felt her body jerk out of fear.

Her name came again, the speaker's voice gruff and recognizable. _Daryl._

Thea finally managed to crack her eyes open, and when her eyes finally focused the first thing she saw was a pair of blue eyes squinting down at her. Was that confusion or concern she saw there? Perhaps a little of both?

"Daryl?" She asked, her head started to pound again and she lifted a hand to rub her forehead.

"The hell you doin' out here?" He asked.

She frowned at him, as if the question was completely ridiculous, and then it came back to her. She gasped and sprung into an upright position, but before she could sit up completely her head spun and she wobbled uneasily.

"Take it easy." Daryl muttered, grabbing her by the upper arms and pulling her over to rest against the trunk of a nearby tree. The tree whose root she had tripped over last night.

 _Shit,_ it was daylight outside. How long had she been out?

"No, no, we have to get back to the church." She told him, shaking her head slowly.

He nodded once. "That's where we were headed when we found you."

She noticed then who was with him. She had expected Carol, but instead she found a _kid_. He looked to be somewhere between nineteen and twenty-one and he looked more than confused about what was going on.

"What's going on?" Daryl asked.

When she faced him again she found him eyeing the burns around her wrists. The parts that had been bleeding last night had dried up and left flakes of dried blood on her skin. It was clear she had been tied up in the past 24 hours. "Gareth and the survivors from Terminus…they took us, me and Bob, last night."

The archer stiffened and glanced around them cautiously as if the enemy would spring from the trees suddenly and kill them all. "Where's Bob?" He asked, eyes falling back on hers.

Thea felt herself pale. "Th-They…they took him back to the church. That's when I got away. But they…they _ate his leg._ They cut it off and ate it right in front of us."

"What the _hell_?" the kid spoke up, running both hands through his hair.

Daryl didn't react in any physical way and she wondered what was going on in his head. "He alive?" he asked finally.

She took in a deep, shaky breath. "He…he was when they took him back but…he got bit on the run into town yesterday. He looked bad last night, I don't think he would have made it this much longer." She explained slowly, the fuzziness in her head finally fading away. As it left though, she was hit with the pounding in her head and the stinging of the cut on the back of her leg.

"And Gareth and the others were going to kill the group. We have to get back to the church."

As she made a move to stand, Daryl's hand landed on her shoulder and kept her in place. It wasn't forceful, the pressure from his hand was surprisingly gentle. "Hey," He leaned down to her eye level and waited until she looked at him to speak. "You okay?" he asked in a low voice.

Thea wasn't sure how to answer that question. Something in the way he was looking at her made her want to be honest and tell him she _wasn't_ okay; not in the slightest. And sure she hurt physically, two blows to the head, a punch to the jaw, a cut to the thigh, and being tied up for several long hours would do that to you, but these wounds would heal. The _emotional_ and _psychological_ trauma from the previous night's events would haunt her for a very long time and she wanted to tell him that it wasn't okay, but they needed to get to the church. So, she nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine." She lied.

He didn't look totally convinced, but Daryl finally gave in and he stood quickly, swinging his crossbow on his back and reaching both hands down to help her up. She only hesitated for a second before putting her hands in his, still somewhat surprised by the gentleness he had shown, and allowed him to pull her to her feet. When she wobbled he lifted one of her arms over his shoulders and pulled her close, his arm going around her waist to support her.

He pulled his crossbow into his other hand and then motioned towards the kid. "This is Noah." He said, no explanation as to where he had found the kid or where Carol was.

Thea nodded in Noah's direction, trying her best to offer him a small smile but she was sure it came out in a grimace. He didn't seem to notice, or if he did he understood.

"Let's get movin'." Daryl said, his grip on her waist tightening as he took a step forward and pulled her along with him.

She tried not to be freaked out by how close he was, or by the fact that this was the first time someone who _knew_ about her attack in the prison had touched her. She tried not to freak out about the fact that it _didn't_ bother her, or how he somehow smelled nice despite the dirt and grime covering him and the fact that they hadn't showered in at least a few weeks now without the prison's shower system.

Instead, she focused on keeping her steps even with his and not tearing the cut on her leg further. She focused on praying that the group at the church was still alive and well. She focused on getting back to them and never making a mistake that would separate her from them again.

She focused on getting _home_.

* * *

 **A/N: Crazy chapter, but Gareth is out of our life so there's that! Also, I ended the chapter where I did instead of having it end when they got back to the church because I wanted to give you guys more Daryl in the next chapter before the Operation Rescue Beth begins. I hope you guys enjoyed it, let me know how you felt about this chapter (I, myself, was a little unsure at one point!)**

 **Please review if you have the time. I do love hearing what you all think!**


	17. Here It Goes Again

**A/N: My apologies for the long wait! I got sick and spent most of my time sleeping or throwing up and not actually writing. Feeling much better though, and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Operation Save Beth has begun!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

Thea's mind was reeling as they made their way back towards the church. She wasn't sure what they would find there, or _who_ , and it was eating away at her. She was trying to keep up the pace with Daryl and Noah, not wanting to slow them down any, but it was harder than she thought it would be. She was barefoot, bleeding, and still a little dazed from the multiple blows to the head and part of her just wanted to lay down in the dirt and sleep for a few ours, but that wasn't an option; they had to get back to the church and the others.

Daryl's arm was still tight around her, hand gripping her waist tightly as he dragged her along with him and she couldn't help but wonder where he had received some of the scrapes and bruises that littered his skin. Did they have anything to do with Carol's absence? And what about Noah's limp?

"Where's Carol?" she found herself asking aloud, eyes searching the archer's face for anything that might indicate something terrible had happened to the other woman.

Daryl was silent for a long moment as they moved, his eyes flickering around them looking for movement in the trees that could indicate an enemy was near. He didn't answer for so long she thought perhaps he _wouldn't_ answer, but then he spoke. "She's back in Atlanta. The people who got Beth got her, hit her with their car and took her to the hospital they run. That's where Noah came from." He explained.

Thea's eyes flickered to the younger man in time to see him nod, a grim expression on his face. This hospital didn't seem like a place he wanted to go back to, but it was clear that they would be returning to Atlanta to retrieve their friends.

"Which hospital is it?" she wondered. When she had completed her internship she had been considering transferring to Atlanta to be closer to her sister and Hank. She had even gone so far as to take a tour of both of the major hospitals in the city. Maybe if she knew the layout of the hospital Beth and Carol were at she could help.

"Grady Memorial." Noah responded. It was the first time he had spoken since they had met and she found herself surprised by the how deep his voice was.

She had taken a tour of Grady Memorial and though she couldn't remember every detail, she knew of the staff entrances that patients and family members weren't aware of. If the people who had Carol and Beth didn't know about them either then maybe they could use them to sneak in and rescue their friends. She just hoped that the group would still be alive to perform a rescue mission into the city.

Her bare foot folded underneath her as she tried to keep up the pace and she gasped, stumbling forward. She threw the arm that wasn't around Daryl's shoulders out in hopes of catching herself before she could face plant in the dirt, but the impact never came.

As she had begun to fall she had come out of Daryl's grip, but he managed to reach out and grab onto the back of her tank top, keeping her from landing on the ground. He tugged at the material enough to bring her back into an upright position and then put his crossbow over his shoulder. His hand was now splayed across the middle of her back and his other hand wrapped around her upper arm.

"Sit down, take a minute." He told her in a low voice, bringing their party of three to a standstill.

Thea shook her head. "No, we have to get back to the others." She could definitely use a breather, but they couldn't afford that luxury if the Terminites were killing their friends.

Daryl made a huffing sound. "You said they left last night, whatever was going to happen already went down. Ain't nothing we can do about it but hope they're okay."

It didn't look like he was going to budge on that belief and she reluctantly took a seat on a nearby rock that was the size of a baby elephant. She wanted to keep moving, but he was right. The attack would have happened last night, there was no way that Gareth and the others would have waited until daylight when they would lose the element of surprise.

She ran a hand through her hair, feeling dried blood stuck in the strands around her temple. She wasn't sure if it was from the initial blow that rendered her unconscious and in the position to be kidnapped or the when she had tripped and hit her head on the rock. Perhaps a bit of both, either way her head throbbed; what she wouldn't give for some Tylenol.

But her gaze flickered to Daryl who was still standing, looking around them with his crossbow in his hands. He held the weapon loosely but she knew from experience that he could turn it into a lethal device in a matter of seconds if needed. She was still concerned about his various injuries though, and she swallowed before speaking. "Daryl, are you okay?" she asked in a voice she hoped was steady.

He faced her and frowned, eyes flickering to the bruises on her wrists as if having her pose such a question in her state was completely ludicrous. He didn't answer just yet, still watching her with that squinting gaze.

"Those cuts," She continued, motioning towards his face and arms. "Want me to take a look?"

The archer gave a grunt in response, his face distorting into what she was sure he hoped looked like a nonchalant expression but to her she could see that he was somewhere between uncomfortable and embarrassed by her attention, her concern. He shook his head once and turned around to scan the trees around them again, earning a sigh from the doctor.

"You a doctor or something?" Noah asked her from where he was leaning against a nearby tree.

Thea brushed off Daryl's behavior for the time being and faced the younger man with a small smile. "Yeah, I'm a doctor." She confirmed. "I could take a look at your leg if you'd like?"

"Later." Daryl spoke suddenly, turning back to look at them. "Let's pick it up again."

He moved to stand between Thea and Noah as they stood from their perches, almost like he was trying to put some space between them. Thea wondered just how much Daryl trusted the kid, or if he trusted him at all, and vice versa. The archer's arm was around her waist again, her arm around his shoulders, and then they were moving once more towards the church where they hoped to find their family.

Where they hoped to find their family _alive._

* * *

It was nighttime by the time they made it to St. Sarah's and when they came to stop in the trees just by the right side of the church it was silent. Thea's heart began to race, thumping in her chest hard and fast as she wondered why there was no sound coming from the little white building.

"Hey," Daryl whispered to Noah, nodding to the woman he held up. "Y'all stay here, I'll go check it out."

Noah moved to take Thea's arm around his shoulders and hold her up as the archer loaded an arrow into his bow and stepped forward.

"Daryl." Thea said quietly, waiting until her turned to continue. "Be careful."

He stared at her for a long moment before nodding once and then disappearing through the trees.

Thea held her breath and waited anxiously for anything. Shouts, gunfire, screams, or anything of that nature that might indicate a fight had broken out. But there was simply silence for several long seconds before she heard Daryl's voice call out for them to join him. She let out the breath she was holding and glanced up at Noah.

The younger man nodded at her and then tightened his arm around her waist. They stepped forward in unison and moved through the trees slowly until the archer came into view. He was standing beside Michonne, who had her sword drawn and a curious frown on her face as she waited to see who was coming out. She saw Noah first and studied him warily, but then her eyes fell on Thea.

Surprisingly, the woman's lips pulled into a smile and she put her sword away. She stepped forward to stand in front of the doctor. "We thought you were dead." She began, eyes traveling over the various injuries littering her skin. "It's good to see you still standing."

Thea was genuinely surprised by the words. While she was sure Michonne didn't _hate_ her, it wasn't like she had gone out of her way to befriend the doctor when they were at the prison. She returned to smile though, ignoring the way her jaw ached when she did so, and scoffed. "Just barely." She replied, referring to the fact that she needed to be held up by another person right now.

"Let's get you inside so you can get some rest, have Maggie take a look at you." Daryl grunted, moving to take her off of Noah's hands.

Michonne cleared her throat. "Actually, Maggie isn't here. She left with Glenn and Tara and the DC group this afternoon."

"They _left?"_ Thea asked in confusion. Why had they ditched their _family_ to go with strangers they had only known for a few weeks? Thea had been looking forward to seeing Glenn's kind face upon returning to the church. To seeing Maggie's caring smile and feel like she was wanted. They were two of the people she felt closest to and they were just _gone_ now?

Michonne sighed almost like she could hear exactly what Thea was thinking. "It's a long story. Let's get inside first, the others will be happy to see you."

The little quartet made their way up the porch steps, Michonne and Daryl both supporting Thea, and then pushed the doors open. When they got inside, Thea could smell something _different_ about the place. It smelled coppery but also clean; it strangely reminded her of an emergency room. There was always some sort of blood to clean up but even after it had been mopped away the smell lingered with the cleaning product. A lot of blood had been spilled in this church, and by the looks of it the owners weren't their own group.

 _Gareth and the Terminites got what was coming to them, thankfully._

"Thea!" a voice called out from the front of the church.

She was surprised to find it was Carl who had shouted her name. He stood holding Judith by the podium at the front. When he shouted, Rick came from one of the back rooms slowly with a furrowed brow. He looked like he was trying to figure out where she had come from and frankly she didn't blame him.

Tyreese stood from his seat beside a somber looking Sasha and moved quickly down the aisle towards the returning group. His grin was wide, like he was genuinely pleased to see her, and a second after Michonne and Daryl dropped her arms he swooped in to wrap his large limbs around her tightly. He hugged her close, lifting her off the ground for several seconds before setting her back on her feet.

"When Bob came back without you, we thought you were dead." He told her in a quiet voice, pulling back to look her over. His eyes skimmed the various spots of dried blood covered bruises with sincere concern that made her want to cry. He was a good friend.

"Bob, did he…?" She trailed off because she knew he would understand what she was asking him.

He did and he nodded once, glancing Sasha's way. The woman was watching them, but she hadn't gotten up from her seat in the third row of pews. "Yeah, this morning." Ty answered.

Thea sighed, feeling too tired to deal with the way the corners of her eyes burned with unshed tears. She knew he was going to die and it still hurt her. "I'm sorry."

Rick appeared beside the bigger man and reached out, his hand resting on her shoulder for a moment as he dipped his head to study her for a moment. "You okay?" He asked her softly.

Thea was _home_ now. She didn't have to pretend that she wasn't hurt, physically and emotionally. She shook her head once, giving the sheriff a tired and tight-lipped smile. "No." she said simply. She shrugged her shoulders and sighed softly, feeling her stiff muscles protest her standing up.

Rick nodded. There was a look in his eyes, almost haunted, that told her he knew and understood exactly what she meant. He pulled her in by her shoulder and gave her a tight hug without saying a word more about it.

She was grateful for that; she didn't want to talk about it right now. She didn't know if she would _ever_ be able to talk about it, but for now she just wanted to rest. She wanted to forget about it for five minutes and just not have to deal with the horrors she had experienced. Maybe eventually she would spill her guts to someone, tell them all about the thing Gareth had said and done. The casual way he had just eaten a piece of Bob's leg in front of him. The relaxed demeanor he had as he spoke of the people he had killed and eaten at Terminus. His face would haunt her nightmares.

"Come on, I'll take a look at you and then you should eat." Michonne said suddenly, taking ahold of Thea's arm gently and pulling her away from the little group as Ty and Rick greeted Daryl.

Thea allowed her to lead her away, thankful for once she wasn't the one having to play doctor.

* * *

The next morning the group made the decision to head into Atlanta to rescue Beth and Carol. Rick, Daryl, Sasha, and Tyreese would follow Noah to the hospital and make their move while Michonne stuck back at the church with Father Gabriel and Carl and Judith.

Thea had been included in the second group, but she was currently protesting vehemently as the others secured the church. Daryl and Tyreese were pulling the pipes off of the organ and standing them in front of the stairs out front like spikes while Sasha hacked at a pew with Thea's axe to make boards for the doors and windows.

Rick and Michonne were nailing the boards to the windows outside when Thea found them. As she sidestepped a pile of nails on the ground she was thankful that Father Gabriel had found a pair of boots for her to wear in the donation box. Why someone had thought to donate pair of women's combat boots was beyond her, but she was in no position to be picky about footwear.

"Rick, can I talk to you?" She asked, pulling the sleeves of her trusty flannel down over her bruised and busted wrists. She was glad to have it back on, to have something to cover the bruises.

The sheriff said something quietly to Michonne before stepping aside and nodding for Thea to follow. He led her to the tree line, still in sight of the church. "What's going on?"

She jumped right it. "I want to come with you guys, to Atlanta."

He shook his head quickly. "We've talked about this. What you just went through…you should take it easy, Thea."

"Except we _didn't_ talk it, Rick. I said I wanted to come and you shot me down immediately. We didn't talk at all." She told him, crossing her arms over her chest and raising a challenging eyebrow at him.

He sighed heavily, glancing back at the others and the church before responding. "Okay, so talk. Why do you want to go so badly? What do you have to prove?"

Thea was only slightly offended by the statement. _Slightly_ because she _had_ wanted to prove to them that she was capable of handling these kinds of situations and she didn't need to sit out every time. "I don't need to prove anything," she grumbled. "I just think it's smart to bring me along. If Carol is in as bad a shape as Daryl said she was you're going to need a doctor there when you get her out. And who knows what these people have done to Beth. _I should be there_. Just in case."

He seemed to think it over for several long seconds, his blue eyes bore into her hazel ones like he was searching for some sort of ulterior motives, but in the end he sighed in defeat. He clearly didn't like this one bit. She found herself thinking that he would learn to deal with it.

"Guess you're coming with us then, huh?" Rick said finally, letting a small smirk slip across his lips. He looked impressed with the way she had stood up to him, like he hadn't really expected it. "Be ready to head out in one hour."

* * *

An hour later found them stuck in a delivery van they had found abandoned. Rick, Noah, and Daryl sat in the front while Thea, Sasha, and Tyreese were stashed in the back. The doctor sat against the wall on the right side of the van, her legs stretched out in front of her. They had been stiff and sore ever since she had freed herself from the hog tie that Gina had put her in; too long in that position had made her legs scream once they were straightened out.

Tyreese and Sasha sat at the very end of the van huddled together. The female Williams sibling was staring blankly at the wall opposite her and she was wrapped in Bob's green army jacket. As she noticed her brother staring at her, she sighed. "Yeah?" She asked him, turning to look at him.

"You know I've been there." Tyreese said softly.

Thea's heart hurt a little as she remembered Karen's kind face. She missed her. A lot. Losing her had been a stark reminder of the cruelness of this new world and it had only reminded her of losing her sister.

"I know." Sasha responded, almost as if she didn't want to hear this again. Like Ty trying to comfort her was too much.

The older sibling paused briefly. "Bob, he would have wanted—"

"Don't." Sasha cut him off. She took several deep breaths. "I'm sorry. Please, don't. Okay?"

All Tyreese could do was nod, and then the small group in the back of the van fell into silence. It wasn't uncomfortable, but with the way all three of them had been hurt there was a sort of sad tension in the air. Like one word could send one of them into fits of rage or tears and so no one spoke to save the others the heartache.

Thea hated it.

* * *

When they made it to Atlanta, Noah led them to an abandoned warehouse about ten blocks from Grady Memorial. They had a good view of the hospital from the windows on the top floor and with Sasha's sniper rifle they could keep an eye out while they got the plan put together.

Thea felt her nerves grow a bit as she realized that the being in the city meant there were more walkers around and that made their mission more dangerous. She didn't say a word to anyone though, didn't indicate that she had any worry of any kind.

"At sundown we fire a shot into the air. Get two of them out on patrol." Rick was saying as the group stood around him. He was kneeling down in front of a diagram of the hospital that Noah and Thea had helped him draw in the dirt. "Then once it's dark enough that the rooftop spotter won't see us, we go. We cut the locks on one of the stairways, take it to the fifth floor. I open the door, Daryl takes the guard out."

"How?" Tyreese asked as Thea's eyes flickered to the archer to gauge his reaction.

Rick shrugged. "He slits his throat. This is all about us doing this quiet, keeping the upper hand. They're not expecting us."

Thea grew uneasy. Who were they to go around just _slitting_ people's throats? How did they know if the guard Daryl was to kill wasn't _innocent_? What if it was one of the people taken to the hospital against their will? And was Daryl okay with killing someone, or would he simply go along with it because Rick said so?

Rick continued explaining the plan. "From there, we fan out. Knives ad silenced weapons. We need to be fast. Tyreese, Sasha, take them." He drew an x in the dirt. "Daryl and Thea, you take care of whoever is I the kitchen. I got Dawn. If they're smart, the rest of them will give up. Then it'll be five on three."

Thea's eyes caught Tyreese's and he looked just as unsure as she did.

"Six on three once we get a weapon to Beth." Rick added.

Noah spoke up. "12 on three. The wards will help."

She crossed her arms and shifted uncomfortably. It wasn't going to be a fight, this wasn't going to end kindly either. Thea was regretting coming with them to Atlanta all of a sudden.

"That's best case. What's worse case?" Tyreese asked, clearly not liking the plan either. "All it takes is one of those cops going down the hall at the wrong time. Then it's not quiet. All hands on deck. We're talking 'bout a lot of bullets flying around."

"A lot of innocents in the line of fire." Thea added. She didn't know how many people had been taken to the hospital, but Noah had said there were a lot of 'wards'. If they got caught in the line of fire it would be horrible.

"If that's what it takes." Sasha said in a low voice. She faced forward, focused and completely okay with the idea of collateral damage so long as it got the job done apparently.

Ty shook his head, adamant on not letting his little sister or his friends take this route. "It's not. If we get a couple of her cops alive out here, we do an even trade. Theirs for ours. Everybody goes home."

Rick stood and Thea wondered if it was to talk on Ty's level or if his legs were hurting. "Yeah, I get it. And it might work. _This will work._ "

The two men stared at each other for a long moment and Thea held her breath as if she was waiting or one of them to jump out at the other. But in the end, it was Daryl who broke the silence.

"Nah, that'll work too." The second endorsement seemed to change something in Rick's mind and he turned to stare at Daryl for a long moment. Daryl jabbed a finger in Noah's direction and continued. "You say this Dawn, she's just trying to keep it together, right?"

Noah nodded. "Trying and doing are two different things."

That was enough for Daryl. "You take two of her cops away, what choices does she have?"

"She has an entire police force, losing _two_ cops isn't going to hurt her. What if she doesn't want to trade?" Sasha interjected.

Thea shook her head quickly. "And lose the trust of the rest of the officers? If they think that she doesn't care about them, that she doesn't have their backs…it would be chaos. She would lose control over them and from what I've heard she doesn't want that." She turned to Rick, one hundred percent sure her words were true. "She'll make the trade."

"Everybody goes home. Just like he says." Daryl added, pointing to Tyreese.

All eyes fell to the leader of the pack in anticipation. Which plan would he choose? The easy one or the difficult one? The bloodbath or the trade-off?

* * *

A shot fired into the air and Thea gripped the assault rifle in her hands a little bit tighter as she leaned anxiously against the brick wall the separated one portion of the warehouse from the other. Daryl stood to her left, the others to her right, and they were all armed and ready for the outcome of Noah's gunfire.

Thankfully, Rick had agreed to go along with Tyreese's plan to make a trade with Dawn: two of her cops for Beth and Carol. It had been decided Noah would be bait. He would fire his gun into the air until a squad car came along to pick him up. Then they would jump in and take the officers hostage. Simple enough.

Simple and yet Thea was still on edge. She was a _doctor_ not a soldier. And what if this plan didn't work and a battle broke out? She wasn't sure she could handle that. She wasn't sure if she could deal with the kind of person it would make her if she had to.

Tires squealed on the pavement barely five minutes later and Rick nodded for them to move. Thea fell into the back of the line as they left the small alleyway and came up behind the two cops, one male and one female, who had Noah on his knees with his hands zip tied.

Rick let out a whistle and the cops spun around with their guns raised at the ready. True professionals.

"Hands." Rick said, cocking back the hammer on his trusty Colt revolver.

"What do you want?" the female cop asked.

Her male partner added: "Whatever this is, we can help."

Rick wasn't having it. "You do what we say, we don't hurt you."

"Okay." The man said calmly, lowering his gun slowly. The woman followed suit and Thea felt herself grow less weary.

"Good. Now turn around. Put your guns on the floor and kneel."

As the officers did as they were told, Tyreese moved to cut the ties off of Noah. Daryl and Sasha were quick to put zip ties around the cops' wrists while Thea and Rick remained with the guns pointed just to be safe.

Thea felt incredibly weird armed with the assault rifle. She wanted her axe back, but that wouldn't do her any good right now. She'd left it at the church in Michonne's care, it would be waiting for her when she returned.

"We need to talk. There's water if you need some and food." Rick was telling their hostages.

As Daryl and Sasha pulled them to their feet, the male officer spoke up again. "Mind if I ask you something?" he asked Rick. The sheriff stood in front of him and waited. "The way you talk…the way you carry yourself…were you a cop?" Rick remained silent, the cop chuckled. "Believe it or not, I was, too."

"That's Lamson. He'll be down for this. He's one of the good ones." Noah said from his spot beside Tyreese.

Suddenly an engine roared and a dark grey car pulled into the lot. Sasha and Daryl were quick to begin firing at it, but when the driver started shooting they were forced to duck behind a group of oil drums to avoid getting shot. From behind the barrels Thea saw their hostages get into the backseat of the car before it sped away and the group ran after it. Sasha shot out the back tire and the car swerved out of control around the corner.

This wasn't going according to plan at all.

Thea tried her best to keep up with the others and hold it together. _She wasn't a soldier_. She wasn't prepared for this sort of thing. She followed behind Daryl and hoped for the best.

As they came around the corner the group skidded to a halt. The car was in the middle of the street with the back doors flung open. Most disturbing of all was the state of the street. The pavement was black, almost like it was charred, and there were walkers littering the ground. Only they weren't _laying_ on the ground, they were melted to it like they had been here when the pavement had liquefied and then gotten stuck before it dried.

A water tower stood tall on the roof of one of the nearby buildings, the words "EVAC HERE" pained on it in white lettering. There were a few FEMA trailers set up, but they too were charred and blown to bits. This had been the spot where they had sent people to be evacuated when things had gone down, and sure some had probably been airlifted to safety, but apparently a large group hadn't been so lucky.

Rick led the group forward slowly, guns at the ready. As they approached the car the two cops appeared from behind one of the trailers, their hands still bound behind their backs as they raced for cover. The driver was nowhere in sight and Rick, Sasha, and Tyreese sprinted after them.

"Psst." Daryl got her attention as she made to follow the others and she stopped, turned to face him.

He was approaching the car slowly. He reached out and pulled open the driver's door, but the car was completely empty. Where had the driver gone? A noise from one of the trailers drew their attention and both turned with guns pointed expecting to see the cop who had rescued the others. Nothing again.

Daryl sidestepped a couple of melted walkers to reach for the trailer door and Thea raised her gun at the ready in case the man jumped out at them. Daryl yanked open the trailer door, but again they found nothing. Where was this guy?

Thea jumped as a rattling noise came from her left. She spun around and pointed her gun at an alleyway nearby…and seconds later a scuffle broke out.

It all happened so fast. One second she was trying to find the source of the noise and the next Daryl was on the ground with a large, bald cop strangling him. The former was laying between two of the melted walkers and they were reaching desperately for him and snapping their jaws.

Thea's first instinct was to drop her gun and jump onto the cop's back. She wrapped her arms around the man's neck in an attempt to get him to loosen his hold on Daryl, but he merely bucked her off of him and sent her falling mere inches away from a walker. She gasped and rolled away from it before it could bite her and crawled across the pavement to where she had dropped her gun.

As she scooped the rifle off the ground she turned in time to see Daryl stick his fingers into the eye sockets of one of the walkers and literally rip the head and spine from the decaying body. He used the skull to smack the cop in the face.

The cop cried out, falling sideways as Daryl his him again, and Thea aimed the rifle. She pulled the trigger, the bullet sinking into the head of one of the walkers by the dueling men, and they both froze, turning their attention towards her.

She had the gun trained on the cop now, eyes squinting in a hard glare as she took in gasps of air. Her heart was racing from both the fight and now holding a man at gunpoint. Sure she had shot a few people at the prison when the Governor had attacked, but this was different. Then it had been in the middle of a firefight and she hadn't seen the faces of those she'd killed, but now the cop was on his knees in front of her with his hands up and his face _right there_ and she was surprised to find how hard this was.

"All right, you win, bitch." He said smugly, glaring hard at her as he stood to full height, towering over the doctor.

And then suddenly she wasn't looking at the bald man anymore, his face morphed into _Gareth_ 's smug grin and she felt her finger twitch on the trigger. She wasn't sure what the man's fate had ended up being, meaning how he had died, but she knew that she would shoot him in the face if she could.

"Thea." Daryl's voice called out to her.

The cop was wearing Hoyt's face now and she felt her own face scrunch up in fury. She squeezed the trigger just a hair tighter and was seconds from pulling it all the way when Daryl spoke again, snapping her out of the haze she had been in.

"Thea. Three is better than two." He told her from behind the cop. He was eyeing her in confusion, blue eyes squinting as if he was trying to figure out if she would really pull the trigger or not.

For a second she almost had.

But he was right. Three cops were better than two and they needed all the leverage they could. She blinked and lowered the weapon slowly. She wasn't sure where that had come from, but she didn't like it. Didn't like the feeling that had come with it.

Daryl pulled an extra zip tie from his back pocket and tied up the bald cop's hands behind his back.

* * *

When the group returned with the other two cops they took all three of their hostages back to the warehouse. Now that they had their leverage they needed to come up with a way to get the attention of Dawn and the others at Grady Memorial. If they did this right, they would all be back at the church by tomorrow morning and they would all be together.

"Your friend, what's his name?" The female cop from before, whose nametag read 'Shepard', asked as they escorted her into the warehouse with the other officers. When no one responded she sighed. "I need to talk to him. Your plan is going to get me and my friends killed."

"We're gonna make it work." Sasha replied.

Shepard scoffed. "It would work if you had different cops to trade. Dawn's running Grady into the ground. A bunch of us want her out and she knows it. Pretty sure she knows we want Lamson to replace her, too."

The bald officer spoke up. "Dawn doesn't know that." he grumbled.

"She _might_. And she's smart so there's a good chance you can't make this deal work and that'll leave us all dead. But if you let us go, we'll take care of Dawn ourselves and then we'll let your friends go and this is over."

"No, we're not going to do that." Lamson interjected.

Shepard turn to him with an incredulous look on her face. "Do you _want_ to die?"

"No. I just need you to shut up right now." Lamson told her. He paused and turned to Daryl. "You can make this work. But you've got to be able to talk to her."

"Noah told us all about her." Sasha informed him.

Thea stood with her arms crossed, watching them all curiously. What was it about Dawn that had Shepard in such fear? What was it about her that had Lamson so sure this would work?

"I've known her for eight years, ma'am." Lamson said to Sasha. "I know this woman. And my only interest is peaceful resolution, not dying, and sleeping in my bed tonight. So, please, let me help you. Please."

They were quiet for a long moment. Thea turned to Daryl to gauge his reaction and he turned to whistle at Rick.

"Hey, Rick, you're gonna want to hear this."

* * *

 **A/N: Next chapter will have the little group finding Beth and Carol! Who is excited for a little pain? :)**

 **I hope you guys didn't mind me putting Thea in Rick's place for a scene. The part where Daryl is fighting with the cop and Thea comes up with the gun was originally Rick saving Daryl in the show, but I thought it would be interesting to see Thea behave a little like crazy Rick after all she's been through.**

 **Please review if you have the time! :)**

 **(Who saw the trailer for the new season and is freaking out? ME ME ME)**


	18. Sledgehammer

**A/N: I hated this chapter simply because what happened to Beth was horrible and I couldn't do it justice, in my opinion. I had some of you asking if I would have Beth's fate remain the same, and ultimately this was the only outcome I could see that would help with the development of both Thea** _ **and**_ **Daryl.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

It seemed like a solid plan. They would radio for a meetup and then get into the hospital for the exchange. Officer Lamson seemed pretty optimistic about their chances, even though the bald cop Thea had almost shot wasn't so sure it would work, and it looked like things would really go the way Tyreese said they would.

Thea stood at the window looking out on the courtyard where they had initially nabbed Lamson and Shepard, her arms crossed over her chest as she kept an eye out for any unexpected visitors. The cop car two of their hostages had arrived in was still parked down below, the driver's side door still ajar, and she wondered how they managed to keep the cars running. Surely there wasn't a lot of gas left in the city, right?

"You alright?" Daryl's voice asked as he came up behind her.

She jumped, startled out of her thoughts by his approach, and sighed heavily before sending a small glare at him for sneaking up on her. As he came to a stop beside her she responded. "I'm fine."

He eyed her in that way he always seemed to eye her. "Sure about that?" He spoke in a low voice so the others didn't hear. "You almost shot that cop down there…what was that about?"

Thea scoffed. She wasn't in the mood for a lecture, or whatever this was. "Is this the part where we have a heart-to-heart and you tell me I'm so much better than that?" She sneered at him.

"Nah," He said, surprising her. "Just wondering why you're here, is all."

She faced him then, brow furrowed in confusion. "I'm sorry, I thought we were all here to rescue Beth and Carol."

His head jerked in the direction of the others. "We are. But you don't even like Carol…and Beth ain't your friend neither."

It still surprised her how he seemed to be able to read her so well. Maybe Zach hadn't been too far off in assuming that Daryl was a cop of some kind; he was a hell of a lot smarter than anyone gave him credit for and he picked up on things so quickly it made her head spin. And he was _right_ , she didn't exactly like Carol much ever since she had murdered Karen. And she and Beth had never had a particularly close relationship either. She had no real reason of being here, not like the other did at least.

He took her silence as resistance to answer and continued to speak. "You're scared of being left behind. Like you were by Gareth and the others."

His words stung her and she took a step back involuntarily, her eyes going wide for a long few seconds as she stared at him in shock. _How_ did he do that?

"I…yeah. But it's not just that," She let out a harsh laugh. "I'm just…the things that they did and said. I never got to see their bodies, they're dead but I don't have visual proof and…and I still feel like I'm going to turn around and Gareth will be standing there with that stupid smirk."

"He ain't comin' back."

"I know," she averted her gaze, looking back out at the police car. She was silent for a long minute and she thought he would walk away, but he didn't move an inch. He was still watching her when she spoke again. "I just need something to focus on. If I had stayed at the church I would have had time to think and I'm just not in the mood to dwell on things right now."

He nodded his head, chewing on his bottom lip and adjusting the strap of his crossbow on his shoulder. "I get it."

That was all he said. _He got it_. She wondered why he didn't say more, or _if_ he had more to say, but she was grateful he'd left it at that. She didn't know how he always seemed to get her to talk somehow, or why she felt it was so easy to talk to him when they had been at odds at the prison for a long while. Hell, the first time they had met he had shot an arrow at her head, and yet here they were.

"For the record, I only dislike Carol because she killed my best friend." She whispered suddenly, not looking at him as she spoke. She knew he was close to the other woman, but she couldn't get over Karen's death so easily. "Even if she had good intentions…I don't know if I can forgive her for that."

Daryl was silent for so long she thought she had made him mad. Then, finally, he replied in a quiet voice. One word that confused her more than it should have. "Yeah."

Was that him agreeing with her or was it simply all he could manage to say to someone bringing up his close friend's wrongdoings? Had she angered him and set back all of the progress towards friendship that she had thought they were making?

As she drew a breath to speak again, movement caught her eye on the opposite side of the glass and she turned her attention quickly in that direction. Her eyes widened and she reached out to grab onto Daryl's arm as he turned to walk away. "Daryl." She said in a low, yet urgent voice.

He sighed heavily but allowed her to pull him over to the window, squinting into the daylight to see what she was pointing to. "Shit."

Just as the words left Daryl's mouth, Tyreese burst into the room from another portion of the warehouse where Sasha had disappeared moments ago with Officer Lamson. "Thea, we need you in here!" He exclaimed, catching everyone's attention.

"Yeah, we got a problem." Daryl growled.

* * *

"You're sure you don't feel dizzy?" Thea asked softly as she pulled away the gauze she had been pressing against the cut on Sasha's hairline.

Officer Lamson had tricked the former firefighter into the other room under the guise that he wanted her to put down a walker who used to be one of his friends. When she had moved to the window with her rifle he had rammed her head into the glass and made a break for it. She wouldn't need stitches, luckily, but her head was going to bruise something awful. She matched Thea, at least.

Rick had gone after Lamson, leaving the others to wait for their return.

"I'm fine." Sasha insisted for the fifteenth time, glaring hard at the far wall. She was clearly seething.

Thea sighed and stepped away, tossing the bloody gauze into an empty oil drum nearby. "Alright. Let me know if anything changes." She didn't really have time for difficult patients right now, and Sasha was very much a difficult patient. If she didn't want Thea's help then she wouldn't force it on her, even though she definitely needed it. Sasha was upset, though, about allowing Lamson to get the drop on her, and Thea understood that completely.

Daryl was pacing nearby, anxious for Rick's return, while Tyreese and Noah stood near the two restrained officers. Thea wasn't sure what was going through the three men's heads, but she could only guess it was something similar to what she was thinking: where was Rick?

A few moments later her question was answered. Rick came through the door, _alone_ , and moved straight for Daryl. The two men stepped off to the side and talked quietly to each other. If they noticed Thea's eyes on them as she attempted to read their lips, they didn't give any indication. As for the doctor, she couldn't make out what they were talking about and it frustrated her.

Where was Lamson? Had Rick found him and killed him? Had he been eaten by walkers? Did he give Rick the slip?

The conversation between the two men stopped and she crossed her arms over her chest as they made their way over to the others. Rick looked tired, like he had just done something he wasn't particularly proud of, and she knew then what Lamson's fate had been.

"He was a good man." Officer Shepard, the female cop, spoke up. She had figured it out too. There was a pause and then she continued in a softer voice. "He was attacked by rotters. Saw it go down."

"Huh." Rick responded, eyeing her with a suspicious look.

Thea felt her eyebrows shoot up at how willing the woman was to just pretend that Rick hadn't killed a man that had been her ally.

"You're a damn good liar." Rick added.

Shepard took a deep breath, releasing it with a quiet huff. "We're hanging by a thread here. He was attacked by rotters, that's the story."

"You said the trade was a bad idea. What changed?" Daryl asked her.

Thea also wondered why the woman was so hell bent on forgetting the truth.

"Lamson was our shot. So it's this or you go in guns blazing, right? You don't want that."

Daryl stepped forward, pointing a finger at her as he grew agitated. "If this is some bullshit you're spinning and things go south—"

"I know," Shepard interrupted him. "I know the good ones from the bad. Let us help you."

Thea frowned hard at the woman. What kind of game was she playing?

It was Rick's turn to step closer to their hostages, and he motioned towards the bald cop sitting beside Shepard. "What about you? You want to live? How much?"

The officer in question stared at the sheriff for a long moment before answering. "Dawn's afraid she'll look weak in front of us. Thinks it'll tip things against her. Hell, it will. She'll see this trade as a rip-off if she thinks you took out one of our guys." He paused and Thea thought for a moment that he was going to go against them. "So it's a good thing Lamson got aced by rotters."

Thea sighed with relief. The two cops would go with the plan, this would work. They would have Beth and Carol out by nightfall and be back on their way to the church. Things weren't going to go bad, as she had feared.

She loved it when a plan came together.

* * *

" _Flight 245 to Atlanta will be boarding shortly. Please make your way to the gate at this time." A woman's voice said over the intercom._

 _Thea checked the time on her watch before sighing into the phone she had nestled between her ear and her shoulder. "It's almost time to board." She told Catherine, who she could hear cooing to Hank on the other line as he talked nonsense to her._

" _Oh goodie! You'll be here soon!" Cat squealed. "Hank, your Auntie Thea will be here soon."_

 _Through the phone the doctor could hear the little boy squeal similarly to the way his mother had, clearly excited to see his aunt._

 _Thea chuckled as she fished a few bills out of her purse and tossed them on the table next to her plate where a fourth of her sandwich lay uneaten. The small airport café wasn't far from where she needed to be to get on the plane, but she didn't want to risk missing any important announcements at the gate._

 _She pulled her purse onto her shoulder, regretting the decision to use it as a carry on when its weight made her groan, and then gripped the phone in her hand once again. "Okay, I'm going to hang up now. I'll text you before we take off, yeah?"_

" _You better! I've got that plane tracker app, I'm going to watch you fly in." Thea could hear the smile in Cat's voice before the laugh followed her words._

 _The doctor grinned, rolling her eyes. "You do that, Cat, and you're going to be on the same level as a crazy stalker." She teased, moving out of the café. She stopped and glanced around for the right direction her gate would be in and then started that way._

 _Cat scoffed. "Excuse me for being a little bit excited to see my overworked sister who never has time for anyone but grumpy old men who need catheters and doctors who could not give two flying shits if you have a life outside the hospital."_

" _Bad word!" Hank exclaimed somewhere nearby._

 _It was Thea's turn to scoff as she sidestepped a woman with a gaggle of children, all struggling against the_ leashes _she had them by. "Hey, I only had to catheter_ one _grumpy old man, and you would be grumpy too if you had to pee through a tube shoved up your—"_

 _She was cut off when she turned a corner and slammed hard into a man heading in the opposite direction as her. They both stumbled backwards and Thea barely managed to stay standing. The man gripped her elbow to catch her, keeping her upright, and she breathed a sigh of relief._

" _Cat, I gotta go." She said simply, hanging up before her sister could protest and shoving her cell phone into the back pocket of her jeans. She turned to the man then. "I am so, so sorry! I wasn't paying attention!"_

 _The man towered over her, a couple of inches over six feet, and had dark hair. It was graying around his temples and the scruff on his face was speckled as well, but he wore a large grin rather than an angry scowl as she would have expected. "It's no problem, really." He said slowly, his hand releasing her elbow. "I wasn't really watching where I was going either."_

 _Thea sighed with relief. She wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone being pissed at her, and he seemed to take getting rammed into fairly well._

" _Still, I'm sorry. I'm usually more observant."_

 _He laughed lightly. "Well you sounded like you were having an interesting conversation. Something about grumpy old men and peeing through a tube?"_

 _She felt her face heat up, embarrassed that he had heard that_ and _she had practically bowled him over. "Yeah, I…I'm a doctor. My sister likes to tease me about it."_

 _The man nodded, as if he knew what it was like to have an ornery sibling. "Well, that's what family is good for, right?"_

" _Yeah, I guess you're right."_

 _There was a pause and the man looked down at the ticket he held in his hand. "Hey, do you happen to know where Gate E is? I'm a bit turned around here."_

 _She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Flight 245 to Atlanta, right?" He nodded. "Well that's weird. I'm on that flight too. Headed to the gate now, actually."_

 _He grinned that wide, pleasant grin again. "What a coincidence. Mind if I walk with you?"_

 _She had no reason to dismiss him; he was friendlier than most strangers after being literally ran into and that grin only made him all the more handsome. She smiled back, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't mind at all."_

 _They turned and both began moving in the direction she had been headed before and she stuck a hand out to him as they walked. "I'm Thea, by the way."_

 _His grin never faltered and he put his hand in hers, shaking it with a firm grip. "It's nice to meet you, Thea. I'm Negan."_

* * *

The sun was beating down on them where they stood on the top level of the parking garage. The two cops sat by their feet, still bound with their hands behind their backs. Thea stood to Daryl's left, Noah to her right, as they waited for Rick to get into position on the top level of the shorter parking garage just below theirs.

Sasha stood with her rifle resting against the concrete railing as she adjusted the scope to her liking. Tyreese was beside her and they were talking in hushed tones. If the stiffness in both the siblings' shoulders was any indication, it wasn't a pleasant conversation, and Thea wondered what was going on with them.

" _Okay, I'm in position."_ Rick's voice came over the radio Ty held, accompanied by static.

Daryl sent Thea a nod and she grabbed the binoculars out of the back of the police car parked nearby. Daryl picked up his rifle and they moved over to the railing, each taking up a position on either side of Sasha while Tyreese moved to stand with Noah and the cops.

Thea could see Rick down below and she lifted her binoculars to study him closer for a moment. He looked determined and focused, like a true leader, and she was glad he was in charge. She wasn't sure if any of the others in their group could handle the tough decisions he had to make for them all.

The snapping of Daryl's fingers jerked her attention away from the sheriff and she shifted the binoculars in time to see a cop car coming up the ramp leading to the level Rick stood on.

"They're headed towards the vantage point now." Tyreese told Rick via walkie.

" _Okay. Copy that."_

The car pulled onto the upper level and drove halfway across it until it came to a stop in front of Rick, who raised his hands to ensure them he had no weapons. The front doors opened and two officers emerged, guns trained on the sheriff cautiously. She couldn't hear what they said, but a few seconds later Rick had removed his Colt from his holster and placed it on the ground. The officers came around to stand in front of the car and the three men talked for several minutes.

Thea wished that she could read lips right about now.

It wasn't long before Rick's voice came over the walkie informing them to meet him and the two officers a block from the hospital. Down below she watched as their sheriff got into the back of the new squad car.

The plan was in motion.

* * *

The door to the hospital opened with a loud squeak that had Thea glancing around in fear that walkers would hear the noise and be coming for them before they could manage to slip into the building. The area was clear though and they all made it into Grady Memorial without a problem.

One of the officers who had come to meet them was in the lead, Rick trailing after him with Shepard and Daryl after him with the bald cop whose name Thea still didn't know. Tyreese and Sasha walked side-by-side behind the archer, Noah following her and the second officer bringing up the rear. They looked like some sort of gang.

Thea's heart was pounding as she felt her nerves growing. How would this go down? Would Dawn just give up Beth and Carol in exchange for her two officers or would there be a problem? Would Dawn believe the story about Officer Lamson or would she figure out the lie?

They were led up a flight of stairs and Thea tried her best to remember the layout of the hospital, just in case things went south and she had to make a break for it. When they reached the floor they would be making the exchange on a set of wooden double doors separated them from the group that had gathered from the hospital. Through the glass windows on the doors, she could see several cops and one doctor waiting, a female at the front of the group was very obviously Dawn.

Beth and Carol were in the back of the group, the latter in a wheel chair while the former stood behind it. They both looked like they had a rough couple of days, but they were alive and that was what mattered.

" _Holster your weapons._ " Dawn's voice spoke through the radios on the officers' uniforms. The hospital group put theirs away.

"You, too." Rick turned back to them and nodded, placing his revolver in his holster and waiting until the others had done the same to push the doors open and step through them.

It was quiet in the hallway for a few agonizing seconds before Rick spoke up.

"They haven't been harmed." He told Dawn, nodding to Shepard and the bald cop.

The brunette cop's eyes flickered across the members of the group. "Where's Lamson?" she asked.

"Rotters got him." Shepard was quick to supply.

The bald cop added: "We saw it go down."

"Oh." Dawn said softly, her eyes widening just slightly at the news. She paused as she appeared to collect her thoughts. "I'm sorry to hear that. He was one of the good guys." Another pause, and then she seemed to forget about her fallen officer. "One of yours for one of mine."

Rick nodded once. "All right." He said before looking Daryl's way.

Daryl shoved the bald cop forward and moved down the hallway. One of the officers on the other side pushed Carol in her wheelchair, a duffel bag on his arm. When they met up in the middle, the bald cop was taken off of Daryl's hands and the duffel bag was passed over. Daryl grasped the handles of the wheelchair and pushed Carol over to them.

Thea could see in his face that he wanted to move faster than the casual pace he had set, but he didn't want to make any sudden moves while Beth was still on the other side.

When Carol's chair reached her, Thea reached out and placed a hand on the older woman's shoulder. "You alright?" She asked, eyes scanning the various scrapes and bruises that littered her skin.

Carol nodded. She looked tired.

Dawn had ahold of Beth's arms now and was walking down the hall towards them. Rick moved forward with Shepard and they met halfway. When Beth was handed over, the sheriff gave her a hug with one arm, his attention still on Dawn. Beth was down at their end of the hall now and Thea eyed the two large cuts on her face. The stitches looked well done, they wouldn't cause any more problems outside these walls but they would scar.

"Glad we could work things out." Dawn was saying to Rick.

Thea still felt nervous. Something about this wasn't right. The whole trade off had gone too smoothly, there _had_ to be a catch somewhere, she just couldn't figure out what it was. She was still watching the officer in charge as their little reunited group began to turn and walk down the hall they had come through. She saw the look in Dawn's eyes before her words sent chills down her spine.

"Now I just need Noah," She called to them, causing the group to stop in their tracks. "And then you can leave."

 _There's the catch._

Rick turned and walked back down the hall towards Dawn, one hand resting on his holstered weapon. "That wasn't part of the deal." He told her calmly.

"Noah was my ward. Beth took his place and I'm losing her, so I need him back."

Shepard spoke up from where she stood with her fellow cops. "Ma'am, please, it's not—"

"Shepard!" Dawn cut her off, not turning away from Rick. "My officers put their lives on the line to find him. One of them died."

Noah took a step forward but Daryl's hand came out to stop him. "Nah, he ain't stayin'."

Noah limped passed Daryl's hand and down the hall to stand a few feet behind Rick.

"He was mine. You have no claim to him." Dawn argued.

Rick's head tilted in that way Thea had seen it when he became the _other_ Rick and she gripped the barrel of the rifle that was slung over her shoulder, ready to pull it in front of her should a battle break out.

"The boy wants to go home, so _you_ have no claim on him." Rick countered.

Dawn was growing impatient. "Well, then we don't have a deal."

"The deal is done."

Noah stepped forward again, limping past Rick. "It's—It's okay."

Rick tossed his arm out to stop the kid. "No. No."

"I gotta do it." Noah said quietly, pulling the gun from his pants and giving it to the sheriff.

Beth, who stood between Rick and the group who had come to rescue her, whispered softly. "It's _not_ okay."

"It's settled." Dawn spoke, a small smile on her face as she got what she wanted.

Thea felt herself stepping forward without thinking. "You're a real piece of work, lady." She said with a glare.

Dawn merely blinked at her before her gaze returned to Noah. She had no remorse for this, obviously.

"Wait!" Beth exclaimed, shooting forward despite Daryl's protests. She ran to Noah's side, wrapping her arms around him tightly in a hug that he quickly returned.

"It's okay." Noah murmured to her, his face defeated. He had escaped this place and yet here he was willingly going back into it.

Dawn was smirking at the two young friends. "I knew you'd be back." She told Noah quietly, almost like she didn't want the outsiders to hear her.

It happened fast then. In the end it was only seconds between those last few words and the chaos that broke out. Beth pulled away from Noah and moved to stand in front of Dawn, head held high as she sized her up. "I get it now." She whispered.

Thea didn't see the scissors that Beth pulled out of the cast on her wrist until the young blonde had stabbed them into the brunette officer's neck. And then it was too late. Dawn instinctively pulled her weapon with a gasp, and the gun went off.

As the back of Beth's head was blown open by the bullet, Thea's hands came up to cover her mouth in shock. The youngest Greene daughter crumpled to the tile floor and blood began to blossom around her like a crimson halo.

Thea's eyes burned, Daryl let out a strangled noise, and Rick blinked in shock. It was like slow motion. But then things returned to full speed.

Dawn seemed genuinely shocked by what she had done, she turned to Rick and Daryl with wide eyes and shook her head. "I didn't mean to. I didn't—"

She didn't get to finish her sentence before Daryl had pulled his gun from his pants and stepped forward, shooting her right between the eyes. She fell backwards, landing a few feet from their fallen friend, and the officers at the end of the hall all drew their weapons.

 _Shit. Shit. Shit._

Thea couldn't think. She couldn't react quickly enough to lift her own gun, instead staring at the blonde body on the floor.

"No! Hold your fire! It's over. It was just about her. Stand down." Shepard told the officers, clearly the leader now. They hesitated but lowered their guns, not wanting a war to break out either.

Thea's feet shuffled forward on their own accord. She slid along the wall passed Daryl, who was starting to whimper, his face scrunching up in agony, as Carol placed a hand on his shoulder. She knelt beside Beth, her hand moving to check her pulse even though it was obvious the girl was gone.

"God." She whispered to herself, covering her mouth again.

"You can stay." Shepard said. "We're surviving here."

One of the male officers in the group agreed. "It's better than out there."

Thea shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks. How had this happened? How had things gone so wrong? Would it have gone better if they had gone with Rick's original plan? Would Beth still be alive?

"No." Rick said, his voice weak as he held in his own tears. "And I'm taking anyone back there who wants to leave. If you want to come with us…just step forward now."

No one moved. The only bad thing had been Dawn and now that she was gone they were free to live in the hospital without issue. Thea wasn't surprised that they didn't want to leave.

Daryl was crying as he stepped forward, crouching down to scoop Beth into his arms gingerly. He cradled her, his tears landing on her yellow shirt.

Thea had never seen him like this, never seen so much emotion, and she wonder just what Beth meant to him to have him reacting in such a raw way. She stood and wiped the tears off her own face, turning and walking back down the hall they had come through with such high hopes.

When they reached the doors leading out to the street, Rick led the way. His eyes were haunted, watery, and he didn't speak a word as he pushed the doors open and left the building. Sasha followed behind him, Tyreese supported Carol behind her, and Thea stepped after them solemnly.

When she caught sight of what was waiting for them her heart dropped into her stomach.

The D.C. group was here, walking up through the gates with hopeful expressions on their faces. Maggie walked behind Glenn, the expression she wore was one of excitement of seeing her sister again, and Thea felt another wave of tears burst from her eyes.

Seconds later, Maggie caught sight of Daryl and Beth. She dropped the gun she held, her face crumpling in sorrow. A wail escaped her and she fell to the pavement in a heap, screaming out as Glenn tried his best to calm her.

Thea could only watch, her face wet and the front of her shirt soaking up the tears that were steadily flowing. She couldn't help but think about Catherine and the fact that she would most likely never see her again. How it was more than likely that _her sister_ was dead, too. The thought only made her cry harder.

And she could only watch and compare her agony. Watch as the last surviving member of the Greene family sobbed loudly.

* * *

 **A/N: So we got a little bit of Thea/Daryl before the angst started, so there's that! And the flashback was something I thought would be interesting once Negan comes into the picture later on. I'm not caught up on the comics, so if it's totally wrong for him to be on a plane headed to Atlanta a few days prior to the outbreak, sorry!**

 **The next chapter will be primarily my own writing, as there was at least a week between this episode and the next one. And if you guys remember the episode that followed "Coda", I suggest you prepare yourselves for the extreme agony of Thea losing another close friend. I'm not ready for it.**


	19. In a Week: Pt 1

**A/N: My apologies for another long wait. The new semester started and I just didn't have much time to focus on writing. Hopefully you guys like this chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

Shovel sank into dirt, followed by the dull sound of the individual clumps landing on the stiff figure wrapped in cloth. Father Gabriel was reading from his bible but Thea's gaze was set on the pile of dirt Tyreese was shoveling back into the hole they had dug and placed Beth's body in. She didn't want to hear what the man, who still wore his black clothes and white collar, had to say about how death was inevitable and we learned from it or whatever it was he was reciting.

All she could think about was how Catherine and Hank were probably dead and would never get a funeral, even a piss poor excuse for one like this. And her parents…what had become of them? Everyone from her previous life was gone. And they were all just left to rot wherever they had fallen, or worse they were stumbling the earth in a hunger-fueled haze.

The thought had her turning away from the group the second the Father had closed his bible. She stepped away from the gravesite which sat in the middle of a small clearing they had found not far from the city they had vacated that morning, and moved into the tree line until she found a fallen tree trunk to plant herself on and buried her head in her hands.

It had been an extremely long night following the events in Grady Memorial. Rick hadn't wanted to attempt escaping the city with the sun setting and so Daryl and Carol had led them back to a building they had hid out in the night they had jumped in that car and followed the trail to the city. It was a safe haven for battered women and children and had plenty of room for them all to stay the night. The grieving group had separated into the rooms and tried their best to ignore the agony they were feeling from Beth's death, but agony was inevitable and inescapable.

* * *

 _Thea rapped her knuckles gently against the door to the room Carol had been placed in to rest. She had insisted that she was fine, but the doctor wanted to check her out just to be sure. The day had been so incredibly long and heartbreaking, she knew that everyone would want to get some sleep before they left Atlanta in the morning and so did she._

 _Resting her head against the doorframe, she let her eyes drift closed for a moment as she heard movement on the other side of the door. She hadn't expected Carol to get up, but maybe the woman had instinctively locked the door when she had gone inside. As the door opened she snapped to attention and opened her eyes, surprised to find that it was Daryl who was waiting for her._

" _Oh, hey," She said awkwardly, glancing over his shoulder in search of the gray-haired woman. "I was just coming to check on Carol's injuries."_

 _Daryl squinted at her for a second, like he wasn't going to let her in, but then he grunted and stepped aside. He closed the door behind her as soon as she was in the room and moved to stand by the window, arms crossed over his chest as he kept a close eye on the woman who was laying on the bottom mattress of a set of bunk beds._

 _Thea cleared her throat and turned her back to the man. She wasn't sure where they stood after the conversation back at the warehouse. And with everything that had happened with Beth…he didn't look like the kind of person who wanted to try and talk it out again for a long while._

" _Carol?" she spoke softly, waiting until the woman's eyes had flickered to hers. "Um…I just came to check on you. Do you mind if I take a look at your injuries?"_

 _This all felt incredibly awkward. It was no secret that there was animosity between the two women because of the way Karen had met her end, even Daryl knew of the bad blood between them, and so for Thea to come in with the intentions of_ taking care _of Carol felt out of place. Something Carol picked up on too, evidently._

 _The older woman sat up with a groan, eyes flickering to Daryl before she answered. "Why would you want to help me? I thought you didn't like me?" There was no maliciousness in her tone of voice, in fact it was almost like she was teasing the doctor, but it still had Thea shifting uncomfortably._

" _I don't," She answered honestly, trying her best to ignore the way she could hear Daryl shift behind her. "But I'm a doctor and I took an oath that said I would help a patient no matter how I felt about them. Now I may not be practicing in a hospital anymore, but I like to think that oath stands wherever I am."_

 _The two women stared at each other for a long moment before Carol nodded her head and turned to Daryl. "I'll be fine." She told him slowly._

 _Thea didn't turn to watch as Daryl hesitated before exiting the room, but she didn't need to see him to know that his eyes were burning holes into the back of her head. She wondered what he was thinking and if her confession of disliking Carol had ruined whatever smidge of friendship they had started to develop. A part of her felt a sliver of something in her gut that had her regretting letting her true feelings towards Carol slip to the archer, but it wasn't like they wouldn't come out eventually._

 _At least they had been revealed on her own terms._

 _As the door shut behind Daryl, Thea gave the other woman a tight-lipped smile. "Let's have a look, yeah?"_

* * *

Someone sank down onto the log beside her but she didn't lift her head from her hands. She was almost too exhausted to move and she was tempted to fall asleep in the position she was in just to avoid interacting with anyone else for the rest of the day, but that wasn't an option.

With a sigh she lifted her head and faced the man beside her, taking in his exhausted face and the way his eyes lingered on his wife as she cried over her sister's grave.

"How is she?" She found herself asking despite the obvious answer.

Glenn remained silent for a long moment before sighing heavily. "Her whole family is gone. They're all gone and I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing."

She felt her heart break just a little for him. "I don't know what to say," she admitted, eyes locked on the ground at their feet.

"This sucks." He said, sighing again, earning a nod in agreement. "You should have seen her. We got back to the church and Michonne told us Beth was still alive and Maggie was just so…so happy."

Thea glanced over at the woman and took a deep breath to try and calm herself; she had done enough crying to last her a few days. "If someone told me my sister was still alive…" she trailed off, shaking her head. "If I had that hope in my heart and then it was just taken away from me like that…I would be shattered. And I wouldn't want anyone saying how sorry they were for me and how she is in a better place."

He rubbed a hand over his face, looking like he had aged several years in one day, and gazed at his wife in worry. "What do I do?"

Thea didn't know what to say to him. If Catherine was the one laying in that grave she wouldn't want anyone harping on her though, and so she used that. "Just be there for her, listen to her or just sit with her if she doesn't want to talk. Let her grieve on her own terms."

* * *

 _The door clicked shut behind her softly and she felt instant relief once she had a barrier between herself and Carol. She had been polite with the woman while she checked her injuries because she hadn't wanted to start anything with someone in her condition and it had been so difficult for her. This was the woman who had killed her best friend and then burned her body to a crisp and being nice to her was not something that she had planned on doing if she had ever run into her again, and yet she had been forced to and it was exhausting._

 _Thea just wanted to go and get some rest._

 _She wrapped her fingers around one of her wrists, rubbing it gently. It was still so sore from the ropes Gina had tied her up with, both her wrists and her ankles were, but those problems seems so trivial compared to the pain Maggie was currently going through in the room she and Glenn had disappeared into once the building had been secured. She wouldn't draw attention to her discomfort, not right now and probably not ever._

 _As she moved down the hallway towards the room she would be sharing with Michonne she could hear voices murmuring around the corner. She slowed her pace and cocked her head to listen to what was being said._

" _Came all this way into Atlanta for nothing and now we're stuck here for the night." Abraham was saying to someone._

 _Thea stopped at the end of the hall, just out of sight, and tried to quiet her breathing._

" _Abraham! They just lost another one of their people, we can't just leave." Rosita responded in a harsh whisper. She sounded tired._

 _Abraham let out a condescending laugh. "We've all lost people, Rosita, some more than others. But_ these _people are broken. And we can't just sit with our thumbs up our asses in a city full of dead bastards all night."_

" _And what do you suggest we do? Leave in the middle of the night when those things are riled up and we can't even see them?"_

 _The woman had a point and Thea wondered why Abraham suddenly felt such a need to leave that he completely disregarded the fact that it was more dangerous to go out at night, especially in the city. And why was he in such a hurry to get away from this_ broken _group in the first place?_

" _It's not like we have a mission anymore." Rosita added before her footsteps came in Thea's direction._

 _Thea's eyes widened, but before she could turn and escape down the hallway Rosita was around the corner. The younger woman stopped in her tracks and glared hard at the doctor for listening in on a private conversation, and then rushed away without a word. The Brit felt just a tiny bit bad for eavesdropping, but it wasn't like it had been intentional, and so she shrugged it off and rounded the corner to head towards her room again._

 _Abraham had already disappeared from the hallway thankfully and she wondered what Rosita meant when she said they didn't have a mission anymore. Why had they even turned around in the first place when the D.C. trio had been so adamant on going to Washington in the first place? Had something happened that they weren't telling the others? And if so, was it something that she needed to worry about?_

 _Thea raked a hand through her hair with a sigh and ducked into her room for the night, intent on getting some much needed rest. Or as much as she could at least._

 _When she shut the door behind her, however, she was met with the sight of Rick and Michonne sitting on the bottom bunk talking. The two stopped and looked up at her as she entered, almost as if they didn't want her to hear what they were talking about._

" _Oh, sorry. I can just go walk the halls for a bit if you wanted to—" She grabbed at the door handle, ready to turn around and leave them alone, when Rick stood._

"— _No, you should hear this too." He told her, moving to stand halfway between the two women in the room._

 _Thea frowned and crossed her arms over her chest in anticipation. What was it that they were talking about? Was it something else she had to worry about on top of everything else? She was much too tired to have another thing added on her shoulders, she'd been through too much in the past few days._

" _Eugene was lying about everything. He doesn't have a way to fix it all." Michonne told her._

 _That was it? Thea couldn't help it when she started laughing, shaking her head as she tried to keep from being too loud. She didn't want Maggie or anyone else to hear and think she was being insensitive, but this was so unreal._

 _Rick's brow furrowed and he put his hands on his hips, narrowing his eyes at her. "Is there something funny?" He asked._

 _Realizing she probably looked a little crazy, she calmed herself down before responding. "I'm sorry, I've just been saying for days now that Eugene was full of shit and I was_ right _. And, yeah, it sucks that there isn't a way out of this but I knew he was lying the second he opened his mouth."_

" _I'll admit it sounded too good to be true." Michonne agreed, eyes flickering to the sheriff to gauge his reaction._

 _Rick nodded slowly, his face crestfallen. "I guess…I guess I just needed something to believe in after everything." His voice was low, the exhaustion making his shoulders slouch._

 _Thea felt bad for laughing suddenly. Of course Rick would make himself believe in Eugene's story, he_ had _to for the sake of his children and his sanity. She couldn't fault him for that. And she definitely didn't have the right to rub it in his face that she had been right about the faux doctor's lies, especially since the loss of this potential cure was almost as bad as losing another member of their group. Which they had_ just _endured hours ago._

" _I'm sorry," She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "It does suck, but the chances of that working were slim to none. Besides, we were getting by fine before mullet-rock came along spinning stories and we'll be fine now."_

* * *

Their method of transportation ran out of gas two days after they buried Beth.

"Son of a dick!" Abraham shouted, kicking his combat boot hard into the driver's side tire of the fire engine.

Thea cringed, glancing around to make sure there weren't any walkers nearby to hear his outburst and come running, or walking, their way.

"Abraham, calm down!" Rosita said in a frustrated whisper, clearly thinking similarly to Thea.

The hot-headed soldier let out a loud huff and wretched the door open, climbing up into the firetruck again without another word.

Thea sighed and turned her back to the truck. She glanced around at the group, taking in the way they all looked so extremely exhausted and deflated. Worst of all, Maggie had moved to sit on the side of the road and was staring blankly into the surrounding woods. She was so broken from the loss of her sister and yet seemed so numb to it all; it made Thea's heart hurt.

Something slammed into her shoulder suddenly and she let out a yelp of surprise, and a little bit of pain, before jumping sideways out of instinct. When she turned, hand poised on the knife strapped to her leg in anticipation of a fight, she saw that the culprit was none other than Abraham's stocked backpack. He had thrown it from the truck blindly, managing to somehow veer it just right to send it in her direction.

"Abraham." Rosita said firmly, glaring hard at his back.

She didn't care that he'd accidentally hit her with his bag, but when he didn't even turn around it put her off. She turned her eyes up to the sky for a moment before her legs began to take her away from the left side of the fire engine where the group had gathered. She went to the back and around to the other side, but as she rounded the corner that would let her hide away from the others she was in for quite the surprise.

A pair of rotten hands latched onto her upper arms as teeth snapped at her face. Thea let out a shriek as she pushed her arms between her body and the creature's, one hand pressing against its chest while the other grabbed it underneath the jaw and pushed the head away from her as much as she could. It must have eaten recently because it was covered in wet, sticky blood from its leathery lips down to its chest and her hand slipped dangerously close to its mouth.

Her arms were trapped between their bodies and as she stumbled backwards in an attempt at escape she only brought the walker with her. Blood dripped from its teeth and down onto her neck, the smell of rotting flesh assaulted her senses.

Just as abruptly as it had grabbed her, the walker was suddenly wretched away. An arm around her waist pulled her backwards and out of its grasp as Daryl stabbed his knife into the walker's skull. Thea twisted out of Tyreese's grasp and fell to her knees on the pavement, breathing hard as she tried to return the air to her lungs.

"Are you okay?" Tara asked, genuine concern in her voice as she moved to kneel beside the doctor.

Thea shot to her feet as Tara's hand landed on her shoulder and startled her, wiped her bloody hands on her shirt. The dark red substance had already stained her skin though, and she sighed heavily. "I'm fine." She replied, avoiding eye contact with any of the other survivors. She didn't want them to see how shaken up she was by the walker's sudden attack.

"We should get moving. Who knows how many walkers heard her scream." Abraham stated, his bag now thrown over his shoulder and rifle gripped in his hands.

Thea couldn't believe this guy. It was like he didn't even care that she had almost just gotten her face bitten off by a walker. How could he be so insensitive? She felt her distaste for the man growing more and more with every interaction she had with him, but she shook it off; she didn't need the drama right now. Instead she turned and walked around the large red vehicle, opening the passenger's side door and climbing up into the cabin to grab her backpack so the group could continue on foot.

She would just have to find a way to ignore him until he and his band of misfits decided to hit the road.

* * *

 _Thea's heart was pounding hard in her chest, matching the rhythm of her feet hitting the pavement as she raced down the alley way. She couldn't hear the herd behind her anymore but she couldn't risk slowing down and getting caught, not when Catherine and Henry were waiting for her. She slipped through the gate at the end of the alley and back onto the street they originally had ran into the herd on. The movie rental shop was just a few buildings away, she just had to keep moving._

 _But her legs faltered and she stumbled to a stop when she noticed that the front door of the shop was ajar. Cat and Henry were nowhere in sight, at least not on the street or in the front part of the store._

" _No." She whispered, raking her eyes over the surrounding shops in hopes that her family would be hidden away somewhere nearby. She had no such luck._

 _For a second she found herself drawing in a deep breath to shout out for her sister, but then she thought better of it; she had only just escaped the giant herd and there was no way she was about to bring it down on her again. She instead moved towards the movie store as quickly as she could. Maybe Cat and Hank had been forced to go upstairs or into a back room. She wanted to believe that, but the door being open didn't look good for anyone involved._

 _What if a walker had gotten to them? Or several? Perhaps some stragglers from the herd Thea had led away had gone after the other two walking meals in the area. Maybe they were dead now and she was truly alone._

 _A quick search through the store told her that there was no upstairs portion to run to, at least not that she could find, and the back rooms were all completely empty. Cat and Hank weren't here anymore._

" _Shit. Shit." She muttered, tucking the hair that had escaped her braid behind her ears and slipping out of the store onto the street once again. She felt silly looking both ways like she was about to cross, but she did it as if her sister and nephew would magically appear down the block somewhere. But they_ weren't here _. Her eyes burned with unshed tears._

 _The sun was getting low now and it wasn't a good idea for her to be out here alone on the street at night. She couldn't leave the city without at least_ trying _to find the others though, and so she simply turned and went back into the movie shop, locking the door behind her. The tears finally fell down her cheeks when she noticed a single blue sneaker, toddler-sized, laying on its side next to a shelf of candy bars._

* * *

 **A/N: Alright, this chapter kind of fell flat for me, but I just wanted to get something posted for you guys! The next chapter will delve more into the effect Beth's death has on Daryl and how Thea reacts to that, and then it will also have the beginning of the next episode on the list!**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, even if it is one of my smaller ones, and please review if you have the time! :)**


	20. In a Week: Pt 2

**A/N: Guys! I'm so excited, this story has reached over 13k views and is at 100 reviews! I just want to thank everyone who reads, follows, favorites, and reviews for this story, you guys are all amazing! Here is part two of the previous chapter entitled "In a Week".**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

Thea's feet hurt. And she felt bad for complaining about it, even in her head, because of the horrible loss Maggie had just endured but she couldn't help it. That week and a day that she had been alone after the prison fell had been difficult and somehow the past three days had found a way to measure up to those eight. She just wanted to sit down for five minutes, but with both Rick and Abraham taking charge of the group they more than likely wouldn't allow them to rest until night fall.

Adjusting the straps on her bag, she sighed quietly and let her eyes wander to where Daryl and Carol were walking side-by-side just a few feet ahead of her. The duo had been inseparable for the past few days despite the fact that Daryl hadn't said more than two words to anyone since Beth's death.

The archer had been sulking quietly by avoiding interactions with everyone unless it was necessary. It had Thea wondering just what the nature of his relationship with Beth had been. Why was it that he was taking the young girl's death almost as hard as her sister was?

She wanted to ask him what the deal was and yet she knew that she couldn't; it wasn't like he would tell her anyway, especially since his best friend had returned. Then again would he tell her anything if Carol wasn't around? It was a strange feeling to try and figure out if she was friends with someone or not, even stranger when there was a limited number of people left around. Things were becoming too complicated for her to stomach right now.

Eyeing Daryl one last time, she sighed heavily and decided that he was mystery that she was not equipped for or in the mood to try and solve at this point in time.

She fell into step with the Williams siblings, sandwiching Tyreese between Sasha and herself as she tried to keep her eyes from wandering to the other duo she'd been watching. Maybe if she had a friend to walk with she could pretend she didn't feel a tiny bit left out by Daryl and Carol. And sure she didn't like Carol enough to call her a friend, but she had thought that Daryl was becoming one before Beth had been killed and now it was like whatever they were was put on an indefinite hold.

"How you holding up?" Tyreese asked her in a low voice once he noticed her.

Thea was glad one person still wanted to talk to her. "I'm fine. Worried about everyone else." She told him, eyes drifting to Maggie and Glenn who were walking a little ways away from the group, the woman clearly needing to separate herself from the others for a bit and her husband not wanting to let her be alone. Thea was glad that they had each other.

Beside her Ty sighed and she looked up to see him shaking his head. "You spend so much time taking care of all of us, Thea. Who takes care of you?"

His words stunned her and she had to stop herself from freezing on her feet as she realized that apart from this group she really didn't have anyone. Sure she considered them family, but everyone within the group had their own person. Tyreese and Sasha. Maggie and Glenn. Daryl and Carol. Rick, Carl, Michonne and Judith. The D.C. trio. Even Tara had latched onto Maggie and Glenn, and Noah too. And then there was Thea by herself. She had connections with a few of the members and the group obviously kept her around because they liked her and needed her, but she didn't have _a person_.

Thea's heart hurt suddenly.

"I…I'm fine." She managed to tell Tyreese, but she couldn't look up to meet his eyes. She suddenly felt very alone.

Up ahead Rick and Abraham turned to face the group. "Five minutes." Rick said simply, indicating that they would be taking a quick break from walking.

Thea felt herself breathe a sigh of relief and she slowly turned towards the woods on the left side of the road. She needed a minute by herself to really think about the revelation that had basically just pulled the back of her shirt over her head and beat her up.

"Don't go too far." She heard Rick call out to her as she slipped between the trees to find someplace with cover. She ignored him and kept moving until she reached a large tree that was surrounded closely by smaller trees. It looked like they had grown around the bigger tree like a web and she quickly planted herself at the base of it, tossing her back pack and axe at her feet.

She was shaking suddenly and she quickly pressed a hand to her mouth to quiet the small, strangled noise that bubbled up her throat. She felt foolish for thinking she would ever be anything more to any of these people, and then she felt foolish for having such negative thoughts and her head was hurting.

Before the outbreak she was more than a little confident. She had been a beautiful, smart, fun doctor with her entire life ahead of her to achieve all of her goals. Now that the world had ended things had gone downhill so fast. Worst of all was that after what Hoyt had done to her she no longer felt like she was _worth_ anything and she absolutely hated that more than she hated the man himself. Hated that anyone could have enough power to have that kind of power over her.

Thea brought her knees up to her chest and buried her face between them in exasperation. For now, it was beginning to feel like more trouble to stay alive than it was to just give up.

The sound of footsteps approaching caught her attention and she remained still, listening to see if the gait was that of a living human or a walker. Walkers were known to stumble around aimlessly rather than walk with purpose, and so when it became evident that these footfalls were on a mission she lifted her head and wiped her eyes quickly.

Glenn's face appeared from around the bunch of trees, his brow furrowed deeply when he spotted her and he stepped fully into view. "Hey, Rick sent me after you. We're about to get moving again." He stated, jabbing his thumb in the direction of the road.

Thea nodded her head and wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans, but she didn't move to stand up. Maybe it would be easier if they just left her.

There was a pause before Glenn spoke again. "Ar-Are you okay?" he asked, his voice faltering with uncertainty. He looked like he wasn't sure what to do and she wondered how much experience he had with trying to comfort women other than his wife and maybe his mother.

She didn't want to lay her troubles at his feet, but Glenn had only ever been nice to her and she felt maybe she owed him some sort of explanation. As she opened her mouth to respond, however, a series of groans filled the air and sent her heart racing. She whipped her head around to peer between the trunks of the smaller trees surrounding the tree she sat under as Glenn stuck her head out from around the tree closest to him.

"Shit."

There were over a dozen walkers headed right for them. They had come from the direction the other survivors were in, so it was safe to assume that they had either gotten ambushed or had been forced to run. Glenn reached down to grab Thea's bag off the forest floor, slinging it over his shoulder quickly.

"C'mon!" He exclaimed, somehow keeping his voice at a whisper as he ushered her to her feet.

Thea scrambled to a standing position scooping up her axe and glancing back at the small herd that was closing in on their hiding spot. She turned back around in time to see Glenn dart in the opposite direction of the road and she followed suit, not wanting to stick around for the walkers.

Just when she thought they were catching a small break.

* * *

" _Please, we have to hurry! My baby might not last much longer before the infection gets him." Deborah was begging._

 _Thea was pacing the short length of the trailer and five seconds from a meltdown. This could not be happening. She wasn't trained for this; she was a surgeon, but her specialty was cardiothoracic. She didn't know anything about performing a cesarean and she didn't know much about babies either. She had spent a few weeks on rotation in the NICU during her internship, but not enough time to know how to take care of a prematurely born infant_ without _modern medicine to help her. She was sincerely starting to regret her decision to do this._

" _Thea!" Deborah shouted to get her attention._

 _The young doctor turned and faced the older woman, eyes wide with fear. "I-I know, Deb, just give me a second." She stammered._

" _We don't have a second to spare. We don't know how long it will take the infection to reach the baby."_

 _She was right but it didn't make Thea any less scared. Then again, if she let fear stop her from doing anything she would probably be long dead by now. Sighing softly, Thea nodded her head and moved to where she had placed her bag on the small counter. She unzipped the front pouch and pulled out her water bottles, standing over the sink and rinsing her hands as best she could. It wasn't exactly a hospital regulation scrub-in, but it was the best she could do._

 _Next, she rinsed the blade of her knife. She had spent enough times driving the knife into the heads of walkers that it was probably crawling with diseases by now but it wasn't like she had her pick of surgical tools. And it wasn't like Deborah was going to survive much longer anyway. That thought sent a stab of pain through her stomach and she paused to close her eyes for just a moment. She had grown close to Frank and Deborah and now the man was dead and his wife was soon to follow, but their child had a chance and that was reason enough for her to kick it into gear and save him._

" _Okay, let's do this." She whispered, more to herself than the other woman as she needed a little more encouragement to get through this than Deb did. As she turned, however, she was met with a sickening sight._

 _The pregnant woman's body was resting limply on one of the benches that lined the camper. Her eyes were open and staring lifelessly up at the yellow ceiling and the arm with the bite in it hung loose off the bench, her fingertips just barely brushing the dirty, brown-colored carpet. The bite wound on her forearm was no longer bleeding and from where she stood Thea couldn't see any movement to indicate her chest was rising and falling with her breathing._

" _Deb?" She whispered, almost as if speaking louder would somehow make the situation worse. Or maybe it was simply because her throat had constricted and prevented her from raising her voice any further._

 _She crept forward with the knife still gripped tightly in her hand until she was standing beside the bench, hovering over the woman hesitantly. She called out to her again, one last desperate attempt at bringing her friend back, and then reached out to press her fingers to the pulse point on her neck._

 _Nothing._

 _Thea's breath left her in an instant and she felt herself sink to the floor. She landed against the wall opposite the bench and brought her hands up to cover her mouth, which was gaping open in shock. She had never seen anyone die that quickly from a bite, how was that possible? Maybe it hadn't been the bite that had killed her, maybe it had been a heart attack or something else. Deborah was older than Thea by at least two decades and so it wouldn't be entirely unlikely for her to have heart failure in a situation as stressful as this one had been. She had just lost her husband and she had feared losing her baby._

The baby _._

 _Thea sat up quickly, getting on her knees as she eyed the large stomach that carried the infant. She knew that there was only a short time frame after the mother died to save the baby, and she needed to move now if she wanted to do that._

 _She gripped the knife in her hand and stood, leaning over the dead woman and lifting her shirt to position the blade at her lower abdomen. As she made the initial cut it was unsettling to see only a minimal amount of blood seep from the wound but she continued to slice the knife across the wax-like skin until the woman's stomach was cut from hip to hip in a thin incision. Her hands were shaking like crazy, but she knew she had to hurry if she didn't want this to be in vain._

 _Fate had other plans._

 _Before she could make another move a low hiss of air escaped Deborah's lungs. Thea froze and turned her attention to the woman's face in anticipation and a second later her friend's eyes were open and staring right at her. But it wasn't her. A hungry growl came next and as she struggled to stand with the large belly in the way. Thea felt her eyes well up as she quickly plunged the knife into the woman's temple._

 _As Deborah's body fell limp for the last time, Thea landed on the floor again and began to cry._

* * *

"This way!" Glenn called back to her as he ran through the trees just ahead of her.

Thea was doing her best to keep up with the younger survivor but he was much quicker than her and she was finding it difficult to keep the pace. She didn't dare tell him to slow down though because she knew that the walkers were behind them still. No, she could _hear_ them still behind them. The herd was chasing them like they were playing some sort of monstrous game of tag.

She didn't think Glenn would leave her alone on purpose, but it was entirely possible that she could fall behind too far and lose track of him. And then she would be on her own again, but she wasn't really sure she could handle that and so she pushed herself harder to catch up with him.

Glenn disappeared through a thick brush and she panicked, pumping her legs harder and faster until she too burst through the leaves. On the other side, she could see Glenn was almost completely across an open field and she didn't waste any time following after him. The whole time she couldn't help but think that if they stopped here they could fight the walkers without having any chances of one sneaking up on them.

 _Snap!_ Thea's feet were suddenly wrapped in something hard and she let out a shriek as it wrapped itself around her legs all the way up to her knees, tripping her. She fell forward, only narrowly missing the blade of her own axe as she caught herself. Something sharp had cut through her jeans and was digging into the skin on her legs in several places and she rolled onto her back to get a better look at her attacker, only to find lines of barbed wire ensnaring her.

Somehow she had ran through what had once been a fence but had been lying hidden by the tall grass, almost like it was waiting for someone to trap. Some of the wire was still attached to an old wooden post, which was what had snapped when she had twisted the wire around too fast.

"Shit, shit, shit!" She cursed as she tried to wiggle her legs out of the trap. Her movements only made the wire tighter and the barbs dug deeper into her skin. She could feel blood on her legs, and worst of all the herd had come through the brush already and would be on her soon. She needed to get out of here fast.

From the distance she heard Glenn shouting her name and she turned her head to see where he was. Thankfully, she found him running back in her direction to help her and she breathed a small sigh of relief. Small being the operative word considering there was a group of walkers headed right for them, hungry and ready to chomp down on the two survivors like they were an afternoon snack.

Glenn landed on his knees beside her and both of his hands went to grasp the wire, careful of the barbs, in an attempt to pull it off of her. She gritted her teeth in pain and sat up to help him, her eyes flickering between her binds and the herd to make sure they weren't getting too close. The wire wasn't doing much budging though, and Thea grabbed Glenn's wrist to stop him.

"Just go, get out of here before they reach us. You don't have to die because of me." She told him. She didn't want to die, but it was looking like that was how things were going to go. After everything that had happened since the outbreak, every fight she won and every walker she outran, she was going to die caught in a barbed wire fence and eaten alive. It wasn't lost on her that she was basically a barbecue meal just strung up for the walkers.

Glenn's face distorted in confusion and he shook his head. "Are you crazy? I'm not leaving you." He protested, pulling harder at the wire he held. There was a desperation on his face and in his voice and she knew that it was because he didn't want to lose another person, but that desperation was going to get him killed too.

" _Glenn_ ," She said forcefully, grabbing onto his shoulder. Her eyes were trained on the impending doom. "Please, just go before it's too late." He was running out of time, soon the herd would be upon them and they both would be torn to shreds. She shoved at his shoulder hard, desperate to get him to leave.

Reluctantly, Glenn let go of the wire and stood to his full height. For a second it looked like he might have been listening to her finally, but then he pulled his gun out of his holster and pointed it at the closest walker before squeezing the trigger. When the walker fell to the ground he moved onto the next and so on, but there were too many of them and he didn't have enough bullets to spare.

Thea grabbed her axe as a walker slipped past Glenn and came towards her, gripping the wooden handle and praying the when the walker stooped down to grab at her she could swing the axe into its head before it could take a bite. Just as the creature reached her, however, she was startled by an arrow bursting through its forehead. The corpse landed on her, pinning her arms underneath it and as she attempted to push it off another walker managed to reach her. It fell clumsily at her feet and crawled over her, attempting to sink its teeth into her legs but the barbed wire sliced at its rotting cheeks and it was forced to attempt crawling over the walker that was already on top of her.

She groaned at the additional weight and tried to sink further in the dirt to get away from the snapping jaws. The creature's arms were swinging around wildly trying to reach her with the larger walker lying between them and she was stuck looking into a pair of milky, dead eyes with tissue paper eyelids just barely hanging on to its face. Thea tried her best not to draw too much attention to herself so as not to bring anymore walkers on top of her.

She couldn't reach her axe anymore and trying to pull her knife from where it was strapped to her thigh was out of the question, so she was left weaponless except for the arrow sticking out of the first walker's head and so she reached up to grasp the end that had come through its forehead and pulled with all her might. The bolt came sliding out of the wound, the bristles on the end spraying a thin film of sticky brain matter on her face, and she turned it around to brandish like a knife.

The added weight of two walkers on top of her had the barbs digging deeper into her skin and as she shifted to get a better angle to stab at the second walker one of the sharp ends scratched across her shin. She cried out in pain, but lifted the bolt up and stabbed it directly through the second walker's left eye. It fell limp but she pulled the arrow out and stabbed it back in, over and over until she had pulverized the walker's head and icky blood was covering the front of both her plaid shirt and her tank top.

She realized then that it had grown quiet and lifted her head to peer over the dead to see what was going on. Michonne was in slicing off the head of the last standing walker and she could see that a few of the others had also come to the rescue. The herd was dead.

Sighing with relief, Thea laid her head back on the grass for a moment to collect herself. This entire situation could have gone so much worse if they hadn't shown up. If she had been alone she would have been dead right now. She was even more grateful for the group in that moment.

"You alright?" Glenn asked her suddenly, breaking the silence as he came over and helped her shove the walkers off of her.

Thea, who was still blown away by the fact that he had refused to run and instead stayed to fight a herd that would have more than likely taken him down had it not been for the others, simply nodded in response as she sat up. "Get me out of this and I'll be even better." She replied, motioning towards the mess of barbed wire still entrapping her legs.

Daryl appeared beside her and scooped up her axe, chopping at the wire where it was attached to the post still. He had it loose in a matter of seconds and then grabbed at the wire carelessly as if the barbs didn't hurt him, yanking it away from her legs until she was free and then dropping it next to her. He didn't say a word, simply turned and headed back towards the trees to return to the road, his shoulders stiff and hair hanging into his eyes.

As Thea stared after him in confusion and worry, Glenn moved behind her and slipped his hands under her arms to help lift her to her feet. Her jeans were sporting new rips from the knees down and she could feel that she was bleeding somewhere beneath the denim material but she didn't think it was a big deal, nothing more than a scratch, and so she didn't bother inspecting the damage. Her plaid shirt was a loss though and she pulled it off her shoulders with only a small hesitation, tossing it to the ground beside the walkers.

"Let's get back to the road." Rick instructed them, turning to follow Daryl as if they hadn't just had to save two of their own. All business.

Thea reached down and picked up the bolt Daryl had left behind, the one she had used to kill the second walker, and followed.

* * *

A few days later they made it to a small town called Ellenton. Thea was just glad to see buildings and cars even if they all were abandoned, it felt like a small sliver of civilization had returned compared to the endless forest to which they had previously been subjected. Even better was the fact that this meant they could find a new mode of transportation, which meant that Thea's feet would get a much needed break.

She sat on the back bumper of a blue SUV they had found at an old office building, her eyes trained on the crackling fire. After managing to hotwire the SUV along with a white van they had more than enough room for all of the group in the two cars. They had gone through a couple of the buildings for supplies but hadn't had much luck before being run out of Ellenton by a herd.

Now, they sat parked for the night in the woods again. Daryl had caught a handful of squirrels and they'd cooked them up, no one really saying a word the entire time. Everyone was still in a stunned stupor from losing Beth and the close call with the herd that nearly got Glenn and Thea and so they had eaten and then turned in for the night.

All but Thea, Rick, Noah, and Daryl were asleep. The archer was sitting beside the slowly dying fire with his eyes trained on the trees as if a threat would come stumbling out any second. Rick and Noah sat in the open back of the white van, talking quietly to each other and thought Thea tried her hardest to hear what it was they were saying she couldn't make any of it out. Maybe it wasn't important at all, or maybe it was.

Sighing heavily, Thea stood from the bumper and moved to sit by the fire. She put only a couple of feet between herself and Daryl in hopes that maybe he would talk to her and held her hands out towards the fire to try and warm them up a little. She was regretting taking off the plaid shirt she had been wearing since before the prison. Sure it had been covered in walker blood and brains, but it had offered some shelter form the elements whether that was the sun or the chill of the night; now she was just cold in a bloody tank top.

She wrapped her arms around herself and stared into the flames for a long moment trying to decide what to say to Daryl when movement caught her eye. Daryl had picked up another log and proceeded to place it in the fire without a word, his eyes not even flickering in her direction. It was the only acknowledgment he had given her in the time since Beth died, minus the thing with the barbed wire, but he had obviously noticed her shivering and something about the fact that he acted on it despite the pain he must be going through made her want to say something.

Just as she opened her mouth to thank him, he stood abruptly and disappeared into the white van. Thea stared after him for a long second before huffing in annoyance. She'd have to try again, apparently.

* * *

"It was secure. Wall, homes, twenty people." Rick was explaining to the group the next morning. "Beth wanted to go with him. Wanted to get him there. It's a long trip, but it works out…it's the last long trip we have to make."

Apparently the discussion Rick had been having with Noah the previous night was about Noah's home just outside of Richmond. He had been hoping to return there upon escaping Grady Memorial and had somehow convinced the leader that it would be worth the long trip. Thea hoped he was right because it could mean they wouldn't need to run anymore and she was tired of running.

"And what if it isn't around anymore?" Glenn asked.

Rick paused for a second and then responded. "Then we keep going."

Keep going. That was easier said than done.

"Then we find a new place." Michonne chimed in.

* * *

Somehow, and how she wasn't too sure, she had managed to convince Rick to let her tag along on the trip to Noah's house. They had made it to Richmond in a day with the cars and now she was stuffed into the very back end of the blue SUV with Glenn. Rick and Michonne sat in the backseat while Tyreese drove and Noah rode shotgun. It was a ragtag team, but they would make it work.

"How far out?" Rick asked Noah. He was sitting with his foot on the center console, his arm draped over his knee casually. He looked relaxed.

Noah leaned over to peer at the dash behind the steering wheel before responding. "Mmm…five miles."

The sheriff lifted his walkie-talkie to his mouth and spoke into it. "Hey, Carol."

" _I'm here."_ Carol's voice came through the speaker.

"We're halfway there, just wanted to check the range."

" _Everybody's holding tight. 500 miles, maybe this could be the easy part."_

"Kinda think we're due. Give us twenty minutes to check in."

" _We don't hear from you, we'll come looking._ "

"Copy that."

Thea was growing restless cramped up in the back and she was excited by the idea that in five miles they could stretch their legs and potentially find a safe have. This was exactly what she needed, what they all needed.

In the front seat, Noah spoke up and broke the silence that had fallen. "I've been wanting to tell you something." He said to Tyreese.

"What's that?" Ty wondered.

Noah paused. "The trade. It was the right play. It worked. It did work. Just…something else happened after."

That was the understatement of the century. And Thea felt the guilt of the decision to go with Ty's plan too, she had backed it with all of her being and genuinely believed they would all make it out of Grady Memorial unscathed. That was just another mistake to add to her conscience.

"It went the way it had to. The way it was always going to." Tyreese was replying.

It was quiet and then Noah's next words sent chills down Thea's spine. "I never wanted to kill anybody before."

Beside her, Glenn was staring at his distorted reflection in the back of a CD he had found on the floor of the SUV, almost like he was trying his best to ignore the conversation taking place in the front seat.

Tyreese nodded. "I've wanted that. But it just made it so I didn't see anything except what I wanted. I wasn't facing it."

She knew he was talking about what happened to Karen. She had _seen_ the way he had been when they had found her body, the way he had attacked Rick and then sulked around the prison. She _understood_ why he had been that way and had even felt similarly. She hadn't wanted to _kill_ the person responsible, but she had punched Carol in the face when she'd discovered the truth; everyone processed loss differently though. Having someone so violently ripped from your arms was even harder.

"Facing what?" Noah asked.

"What happened, what's going on." The driver explained. "My dad always told Sasha and me that it was our duty as citizens of the world to keep up with the news. When I was little and I was in his car, there were always these stories on the radio. Something happens 1,000 miles away or down the block. Some kind of horror I couldn't even wrap my head around. But he didn't change the channel. He didn't turn it off. He just kept listening. To face it. Keeping your eyes open. My dad always called that paying the high cost of living."

That was somehow the most she had ever learned about Tyreese despite having known him for quite some time now and she realized how little she knew about everyone in the group. She only knew what she had been told or seen. Nothing about their former lives or anything like what Ty was revealing now.

Noah responded quietly in the passenger's seat. "I lost my dad in Atlanta. I think he would have liked yours." He paused, then added in a much lighter tone. "Still got a mom and a couple of twin brothers." Another pause, and then his voice fell again. "I hope."

"I hope so, too." Tyreese agreed with a nod.

With a sigh Noah leaned over to peer at the odometer in an attempt to change the subject. "Two more miles." He said to no one in particular.

"All right." Rick leaned forward and tapped Tyreese's shoulder. "Let's pull into the woods, we'll go on foot. Stay off the road."

"We don't need to." Noah protested.

"Just in case."

Glenn folded the CD in half until it snapped and Thea jumped slightly, turning her attention to the pieces of polycarbonate plastic in his hands that had once played the tunes of some now irrelevant band. She found herself wondering what had become of the celebrities they had once idolized. Were they dead, walking the earth in a haze, or surviving just like them?

The SUV pulled off of the road and into the trees, weaving between them until they happened upon what appeared to be a wreck between a red truck and a yellow car. The truck had a silver camper attachment and from the shadows through the windows appeared to be packed full of something, maybe suitcases. Ty parked right by the wreck and they all hopped out, Thea grateful to stretch her legs.

"This is good. Through the trees it might just look like part of the wreck." Rick stated, peering into the front seat of the yellow car where a female walker was still trapped inside. It beat against the glass, snarling at them.

"It's this way." Noah motioned for them to follow, eyeing the walker for a moment before turning to lead the way to the community he had told them about.

Thea and Tyreese trailed behind the others as they followed the youngest member of their mission crew and as his attention was drawn elsewhere she followed his gaze to a perfect skeleton lying on the grass. It was an ominous sign and she was reminded of the bone collection they had passed in Terminus as they were herded towards train car A; she had the sudden feeling this mission wouldn't end well.

They weren't walking long when they came across a trap of what looked like telephone wire wrapped around the trees surrounding the community. They were woven in and out of the trunks in haphazard patterns that would require a lot of ducking to get through. Thea was slightly impressed; it would keep out walkers _and_ maybe seem like too much trouble for passersby.

"Your people do this?" Rick asked.

Noah wore a proud smirk on his face. "Wanted to. Must have." He replied, a hopefully tone to his voice. This, to him, was a sign that his family was still alive.

Rick pulled his machete out of his belt as if it would cut through the cables, but in the end they were forced to duck through the wiring as Thea had suspected. For once she was thankful for the dramatic weight loss that had come with the end of the world when she didn't have to struggle through the smaller gaps. Noah, however skinny he was, still could not avoid getting nicked by one of the cables. He cried out in surprise, hand moving to his eyebrow, and Rick stopped to look at him.

"You all right?" he asked the young man.

"Yeah. Yeah." Noah told him, not waiting for Thea to get through the cables to check on him. He moved past Rick to keep going.

Just a few minutes later they reached the wall, stopping in the tree line in case there were survivors posted on guard. Coming all this way only to be shot down by would be absolutely ridiculous.

"They have spotters? Snipers?" Rick asked Noah.

Thea's eyes trailed down the makeshift wall in search of any signs of life but it was incredibly still. It didn't look like there was anyone here, at least not anyone alive. Thea felt her blood run cold at the thought that this trip was all in vain; worse was the idea that Noah was about to find his family gone forever.

Noah shrugged. "We built a perch on a truck. Sometimes it's out front."

Both Glenn and Thea peered around the trees to see if the truck was outside the walls, but there wasn't a vehicle in sight. Again, the ominous feeling was deep in the pit of her stomach.

"Not today." Glenn informed them.

Noah's face fell just slightly and they moved through the trees to walk on the main road, following the yellow lines as they led right up to the front gates of the community, which had a large sign reading "Shirewilt Estate". There were things littering the road but what stuck out most was a grandfather clock that was lying flat on its back, the long pendulum having stopped swinging long ago. Thea wondered how it had gotten here. Perhaps it had been in the back of a truck and fallen out, but why would something that big be important enough to pack up during the end of the world? Even a family heirloom could weigh you down.

When they made it to the front gate Noah reached out and grabbed one of the handles and tugged to try and open it. The sound of chains clanging on the other side was heard, but the gate never budged. They were locked out. Noah pressed his ear to the gate and whispered. "You hear that?"

Thea didn't hear a single thing and maybe that's what the kid meant.

"Just wait." Glenn said as he holstered his gun and began to climb up the side of the wall. He peered over the top for a long second before turning to look down at them with a sigh, shaking his head.

As Thea's heart dropped in disappointment, Noah scrambled up the fence in desperation to find out what it was the Glenn had seen. As he swung his legs over the top and dropped down on the other side, Rick and Glenn followed suit and Thea sighed heavily. Looks like they were climbing today.

The climb over wasn't so bad, but when she landed on the other side and caught sight of the deserted housing development she realized not for the first time that this wouldn't be their salvation. The streets between the houses were littered with trash, the closest house was charred black with gaping holes in some places. It looked like something horrible had happened here and she wondered where the people were.

"Noah, hold up." Rick exclaimed, drawing her attention back to _her_ people. "Noah!"

Noah was racing down the street, Rick chasing after him, in a panic. He was still limping but he didn't seem to care about his injured leg at the moment, which she understood completely. They caught up to him in the middle of a four way intersection of streets and he began to sob before collapsing onto the pavement. His family was gone. He was alone.

Thea averted her gaze out of both respect and uneasiness. It was hard to watch someone suffer through something she felt too after losing Cat and Hank. Her eyes landed on a short brick wall that was surrounding one of the nearby houses where three words had been spray painted on in white. What 'Wolves not far' meant wasn't clear, but given the state the neighborhood was in it sounded incredibly threatening. Something told her that it didn't mean the actual animals.

"Come on, it's all right." Tyreese was telling Noah. "You're gonna be with us now." He placed his hands on Noah's shoulders reassuringly, though how much it worked wasn't clear.

"I'll get him." Michonne said quietly to Rick, confusing Thea until she saw the lone walker stumbling towards them.

Rick moved to crouch down beside the grieving survivor. "I'm sorry, Noah. I truly am." He looked to the others. "We should see if there's anything we can use and the head back."

Back to business. Thea wanted to be aggravated at Rick for forgetting about Noah's grief so quickly but she found herself agreeing with him; they couldn't linger for long not knowing what or who was around the corner.

"Then what? They see us." Michonne said, her tone sharp, as she pointed out more walkers that had started to come from wherever they had been hiding.

Glenn sighed. "We can make a quick sweep." He agreed with Rick.

Thea felt bad going through the homes of people who had died. This neighborhood had become their tomb and she felt like she was disturbing them. But then again, they weren't going to be needing any of the supplies here anymore and if it wasn't _them_ taking it someone else would come along and do the same. At least this way their group benefitted from it.

"I'll stay with him." Tyreese said, motioning towards Noah.

Rick lifted his walkie to his mouth and spoke into it. "Carol, you copy?"

" _We're here."_ Carol's response came seconds later.

"We made it. It's gone."

* * *

After leaving Ty and Noah in the middle of the intersection the other four survivors had gone to search through a couple of the houses. As Thea followed the others up the driveway to an open garage, she spotted a suitcase in the yard. It was left open with its contents strewn across the grass and one glance down at her blood stained tank top she knew that it was worth a try to find something new to wear. She dropped to her knees beside it and began to rummage through the items in the case until she found a plain white tee shirt that was her size.

Glancing up at the others, she saw them standing in the driveway and the garage paying no attention to her and so she quickly pulled her tank top over her head, tossing it to the side and slipping the clean shirt on. It felt nice to have something fresh on even though the color would surely be stained with dirt and grime soon; she'd take it anyway. She stood and moved to join the others just as Michonne smashed the glass on a frame that was displaying a collector's baseball jersey.

"Clean shirt." She told Rick when she saw the look he was giving her. She picked up the jersey and Thea could tell by the way she did it that she was not in a good mood.

"We'll figure it out." Rick responded.

"We will." Michonne nodded. "There's some garbage bags in the garage."

Thea came to a stop and leaned against the truck parked in the driveway, crossing her arms over her chest as Rick turned to Glenn.

"You didn't think it would still be here?" He asked of the younger man.

His two word response was spoken tiredly. "Did you?"

Rick paused for several long moments before sighing. "After it happened, right after with Beth in the hospital, I saw that woman Dawn. She didn't mean to do it. I knew it. I saw it. But I wanted to kill her." He began. "I remember I just wondered if it even mattered one way or another. Didn't have a thing to do with Beth." There was a pause before he continued. "I don't know if I thought it would still be here. But Beth wanted to get him here. She wanted to get him back home. This was for her. And it could have been for us, too."

The four of them were all silent. Thea could feel it in the air that the mention of Beth had drained a little bit out of them instantly. It had been days since the young girl was ripped from them and it still hurt to think about. It shouldn't have happened. That girl shouldn't have died, not like that, not so young.

"I was thinking about that guy in the storage container. Back at Terminus." Glenn replied, making Thea's heart race at the mention of the potential safe haven that had gone so awry. "How I made us stop. After the prison, on my trip, I got Maggie back. Things went okay. Losing Washington…losing—losing Beth…" He stooped down to pick up the bat that had been attached to the frame Michonne had taken the jersey from. "…right after just finding out she's alive…I hadn't caught up with you yet. If it were now…I wouldn't make us stop. We'd run right by."

Thea wasn't sure what he was talking about, _who_ he was talking about. Had they freed another prisoner at Terminus when they had been separated from the group? She didn't bother to ask out loud because Glenn's next words surprised the hell out of her.

"And I would have shot that woman dead. Right or wrong."

Michonne came from the garage with the jersey in one hand and a black trash bag full of loot in the other. "We need to stop." She said in a thick voice. "You can be out here too long."

Thea had the feeling they had _all_ been out here too long.

* * *

Sometime later, after separating and searching houses individually, the four met up again on the street each carrying garbage bags of whatever they had found. Thea hadn't had much luck, only finding a few first aid supplies that might help later on. It hadn't felt right to take any of the clothes in the dresser drawers in the house she'd gone into.

"We could put some of the garage doors together against the break. Park a car against them until we can brick it back up. It can work." Michonne suggested. She was still trying to find a way to make this place work.

"This place is surrounded by a forest. There's no sight lines." Rick disagreed with her as they started walking together. "Whoever, whatever, would be on top of us without us even knowing it. That's probably what happened."

"That's what happened to us." Glenn added, referring to the prison.

Michonne didn't give up. "We could start taking don the trees. We use them to build the walls up." she stopped and motioned towards the gap in the fence. "Look." She led them down the street and through to the grass on the other side of the wall, stopping short.

Thea frowned and moved forward to see what she was looking at, and her heart froze. The grass was littered with legs and arms. _Human_ legs and arms. It looked like a massacre had happened.

Glenn turned to Rick. "It doesn't matter."

"What?" Rick wondered.

"You said you wondered if it even mattered. If you killed her or not. It doesn't matter if you had done it, or if I had, or that Daryl _did_. It doesn't matter."

"Washington. Eugene lied about a cure, but he thought of Washington for a reason." Michonne tried again.

"But he was lying." Glenn told her.

"About the cure, but he did the math and realized that Washington was the place where there'd be a chance. We're close. What if there are people there? Huh? What if it's someplace that we can be safe? We're one hundred miles away. It's a possibility. It's a chance. Instead of just _being_ out here. Instead of just _making_ it." She pointed to the body parts. "Because right now, this is what making it looks like." The passion in her voice had Thea suddenly agreeing with her. "Don't you want one more day with a chance?"

Her speech had drawn attention and a few walkers came stumbling out of the trees towards them.

"We should go." Rick said, and Thea started to move towards the street again to get away from the walkers. "It's 100 miles away. We should go to Washington."

Michonne stared at him in relief for a second, and then it all came crashing down. In the distance, shouts came.

"Rick! Help! Glenn! Michonne! Thea!"

It was Noah. The four of them took off running in the direction of the screams. Thea's heart was racing as she feared the absolute worst. Had the people who had cut the arms and legs off of the families here returned? Had the _wolves_ returned? And if they had, what were they doing to Ty and Noah?

They rounded a house and found Noah on the porch with two walkers. He had something between himself and the walkers, but he was trapped.

"Noah, hold on!" Glenn called to him, racing over to put down the walkers attacking him.

There were half a dozen walkers approaching and Thea lifted her axe to embed the blade into the nearest one's head. They quickly dispatched the walkers before turning to Noah for answers. Why was her here instead of in the street where they had left him? And where the hell was Ty?

"It's Tyreese!" Noah exclaimed as he jumped to his feet.

"Where?" Rick asked.

"My house. He's been bit!"

Thea felt her heart stop as they all followed Noah towards his house. She prayed silently to herself that he would be okay, but she wasn't sure what his condition was or where he had been bitten. And depending on how long ago it had been since his bite, she wasn't sure if she would find her friend still alive.

She didn't look at the house Noah led them into, didn't see any of the decorations that his mother had probably spent quite a lot of time on putting up. She had blinders on, her mind focused on the one simple task of getting to Ty and helping him. When they were led into a child's bedroom she felt her blood run cold.

Tyreese was sitting up against the wall with blood covering the floor around him. His arm had two large bites in it, on near his wrist and one near his elbow. He was bleeding out profusely and she wanted to fix him. Rick called out her name and she leaped into action. Her hands moved to pull her belt off quickly and she crouched beside her friend and wrapped it around his arm just above the bend in his elbow, tightening it up as much as she could.

Rick grabbed ahold of Ty's hand and pulled the arm out straight, shouting at Glenn. "You hold him!"

"I got him, got him! Go!" Glenn exclaimed, holding Tyreese's shoulders against the wall.

"One hit, clean! Go!" Rick told Michonne, who was standing by with her sword at the ready.

The katana came down quickly and sliced Tyreese's arm off smoothly as Thea held the tourniquet in place. As his lower arm came off she pulled the belt tighter again, earning a groan from the man. That was the first sound he had made since they had come into the room and it was so soft and quiet that Thea knew he wasn't in very good shape at all.

"Give me that blanket!" she instructed Michonne. When the tan blanket was handed to her, she draped the larger portion over Ty's shoulder before holding the other end to the stump where his arm had been. "We have to get him out of here."

Just like that they were moving. Rick and Glenn scooped Tyreese off of his feet and supported him as they moved out of Noah's house and headed for the main gate. Thea's ears were ringing as her heart beat frantically and she could barely register what everyone was saying as they shouted instructions at each other. She vaguely recalled fighting walkers to clear a path with Michonne for the men carrying Ty's limp body. When they reached the cables there was a struggle to get through them, but soon they were loading Tyreese in to the backseat of the blue SUV they had arrived in.

Rick was in the driver's seat with Michonne in the passenger's side. Glenn was sitting in the back again and she was squished between Tyreese and Noah in the backseat, her hands gripping his arm as she tried to stop the bleeding. It wasn't working and she had the warm liquid all over her hands and nearly up to her elbows. The white shirt she had changed into was stained red.

As Rick put the car into gear and slammed on the gas pedal the back tires squealed as they got stuck in the damp grass. Just when Thea thought they weren't going to go anywhere at all and Tyreese was going to die in this stupid hotwired SUV the vehicle shot forward and slammed into the back of the abandoned red truck. The back hatch popped open and dozens of walker torsos came spilling out onto the hood of their SUV. One of them was facing those in the car and Thea could see that it had a large 'W' carved into its forehead.

 _Oh god_. The legs and arms on the other side of the wall had belong to these people. How had they ended up in the back of this truck? Jesus, this was a living nightmare.

Rick reversed and then they were speeding out of the forest and down the road towards where they had left the rest of their group. Thea's attention was completely on Tyreese. She had his arm elevated to keep the bleeding at bay since the tourniquet was barely working. Somewhere along the way of getting Ty to the car they had lost the blanket from Noah's house and so she was forced to press her hands against the ragged end of his arm to try and stop the bleeding. It was useless.

"Turn it off." Tyreese whispered to no one in particular.

She leaned forward to ask what he meant, but it was obvious that he was more than a little delirious from the blood loss. She turned to their driver. "Rick, hurry." She told him desperately. She wasn't sure why she felt him hurrying would do any good. She was a trained doctor and she was over her head, so she didn't have a clue what anyone else back at their camp would be able to do. Maybe she just didn't want to be alone in trying to fix him. Maybe she didn't want to be the only one to blame for failing to save his life.

She turned back to face Tyreese again and felt a stinging behind her eyes. He was laying slack against the window with his eyes closed and his skin a milky color. Thea lifted a shaking hand up to press her fingers against the pulse point in his neck but there was nothing there to feel. She couldn't breathe all of a sudden. "No." She whispered, moving to press her hand against her mouth but stopping short because of the blood that covered it.

Behind her, she vaguely registered Glenn telling Rick to pull the car over and the car came to a stop. She didn't move as the others climbed out, not wanting to leave Tyreese in the car alone. It wasn't until she felt a hand on her elbow that she allowed Rick to pull her from the backseat. She stood on the road and watched Rick and Glenn pulled her friend's lifeless body out of the SUV. She knew he was gone, knew it before Rick pressed his fingers to Ty's neck to feel for a pulse that wasn't there, but when the sheriff reacted in a mixture of anger and grief at feeling nothing Thea felt herself break. It was a confirmation she didn't want.

A sob ripped from her throat and she felt her legs give out, her knees hitting the pavement hard, and she began to cry. She leaned forward and pressed her forehead to the road, folded her arms around her stomach in a weak attempt to comfort herself. Tyreese was the person she was closest too from this group and now he was gone forever. She found herself wishing that they had never come to Richmond and that they had never tried to bring Noah back home. If they hadn't come here then Tyreese would be alive still.

Beside her Rick was speaking into the walkie again. "Carol, we lost him." He paused to regain his composure and then began again. "I'll—I'll tell Sasha."

 _Oh god, Sasha._ Thea had completely forgotten about the other woman in her moment of grief. Ty had been a close friend to her, but he was Sasha's _brother_. How would she handle losing him? How would the group handle losing him? Thea's heart hurt.

* * *

After being ushered back into the SUV she found herself once again squished in the backseat. Only this time she was between Glenn and Noah and Ty's body was in the very back portion of the vehicle. She had stopped sobbing, but tears were still silently falling down her face. Her bloodstained hands were resting in her lap, palms up, and she couldn't help but stare down at them.

Rick was speeding over 80 miles per hour down the road to get back to camp, almost like they were still trying to make it in time to save their friend. She knew the second they got back to camp they would have to tell the others what had happened, and she didn't want to face that. She didn't want to have to see the grief on the faces of the people who had lost someone just days ago and now had lost another.

The car stopping was what alerted her to their arrival and she felt her heart sink. She wasn't ready.

They climbed out of the backseat after Noah and immediately felt all eyes on her. Or rather on the bloodied white tee shirt she wore and the blood coating up to her elbows. As instructed, Carol hadn't said a word to anyone but probably Daryl and they all were starting at her for answers. Rick cleared his throat to speak, but Sasha came forward and stopped in front of Thea expectantly.

Thea felt like a deer in headlights and she didn't know what to say. 'I'm sorry'? 'He's gone'? Nothing she could think of seemed right. In the end, she felt her eyes burning with fresh tears and she ended up just shaking her head slowly.

Sasha's face went blank, her eyes traveled to the blood on her shirt, and then she broke down. Thea wanted to reach out and hug her, but she couldn't bring herself to move.

And so they stood there, not moving, and cried.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm sorry about this depressing chapter, Tyreese's death was a hard one for me when the episode aired and I knew it would be a hard one for Thea too. And I know there wasn't much Daryl/Thea in this chapter, but I promise I have something nice planned for the next chapter that I hope you guys enjoy!**

 **++++Important+++ I just wanted to fill you guys in on the plan for this story. I don't intend to write for season seven storylines prior to the new season airing and I don't think that I will actually post many chapters involving season seven while season seven is airing. The way I write for specific episodes involves a lot of pausing and rewinding and re-watching so unless I can find a way to get the new episodes online somewhere without downloading or getting viruses on my computer it will be difficult to do that. I don't want to do it on my TV because I have two roommates and they don't write FF so they would probably be weirded out by it.**

 **That being said, I'm hoping to drag out the rest of season five and all of season six in order to keep updating for you guys as much as I can until I can find a solution for writing season seven. So there will probably be some boring chapters of downtime in Alexandria, so just bear with me. Also, if anyone knows of any way for me to get the new episodes online when they air without downloading and they can share then it would make it easier and I would appreciate it! :)**


	21. Comfortably Numb

**A/N: This chapter is a lot on the longer side as a treat for everyone who has been so patient with me! I hope you guys enjoy it!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

Numb. Her brain, her heart, her head all felt numb. And it wasn't the kind of numb that came without caring, but rather the opposite. She had felt _so much_ in the past couple of weeks and her body couldn't take it anymore. So it became numb to help with the pain, only it didn't help and somehow she was still feeling the intensity of the loss of her friend. She wanted nothing more than to stop feeling it, would give anything to end it, but losing that feeling would mean she was no longer alive. She planned on staying alive.

" _We look not at what can be seen, but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from god. A house not made from hands, eternal in the heavens. In the heavens."_

It had been a good eulogy, but Thea couldn't register the feeling behind Father Gabriel's words. Her eyes had been trained on the red stains on her shirt. Before they had gone to find Noah's family, she had been stuck in a bloodstained shirt and desperate to change. She had been happy to find something clean to wear, and then a few minutes later it had been painted once again with blood. Only this time it wasn't from a walker, this time it belonged to one of her closest friends.

The first sign things were going bad was the SUV running out of gas. The sixteen of them were forced to squeeze into the white van to keep moving and Thea found herself stuck between a window and Carol, to her dismay. Daryl sat on the other side of Carol and it was almost kind of ironic since Thea felt that the gray-haired woman's return had come between the almost friendship she had been developing with the archer. And now here she was _literally_ sitting between the two of them.

The second sign of impending struggle was when they stopped to rest and find water. Their supplies were running dangerously low and they only had less than half of Glenn's water bottle left to share amongst the group. It had been a day and a half since any of them had eaten anything or had more than a sip of water and they were hurting. Daryl, Sasha, and Maggie had disappeared into the woods in search of _something_ while the rest of them waited. Thea had the sinking feeling that they wouldn't find a single thing.

The group was silent as they sat and waited for the trio to return, all siting on the hot pavement and hoping that they would be given even just a light drizzle of rain to soothe their heat stroke. It had been nothing but high nineties for a while now and Thea found herself wishing for that stereotypical England weather just to have a break. She wanted, no _needed_ , to feel something different. Something other than intense heat and mind-numbing grief.

"I don't think they found anything." Rosita's voice cut into the silence.

Thea's eyes found the trio as they walked down the road towards them, emptyhanded and crestfallen, and she sighed heavily. They would be starving for another day, they would have to ration what little water they had left even further. Sixteen people sharing less than half a bottle of water, _and_ one of them was a baby who needed the water more than the rest of them. That was the second sign.

The third sign would be much worse.

Sometime later they were back on the road, Thea once again squished between Carol and a window, and she felt the car shudder before the loud sputtering noise came. The van rolled to a stop, completely out of gas and not going anywhere anymore.

"We're out. Just like the other one." Abraham stated the obvious.

In the passenger seat, Rick responded. "Then we walk."

Thea tried not to show her annoyance as they climbed out of the van. She didn't have to voice her opinion to know they were all probably thinking the same thing: how much this day had sucked. She couldn't even find herself feeling grateful that all that had happened was a lack of sustenance and two gasless vehicles because they had just lost two of their own. Even though no one had died today, which normally would be a sign of a good day, it felt like they had lost Ty and Beth just that morning. The loss was almost palpable in the air, so much so that Thea wanted to shove it away from her and forget all about it.

That wouldn't be happening.

Thea remained in the back of the group, out of sight and out of mind. Michonne and Sasha were walking silently in front of her, Abraham had put a large space between himself and the doctor, but he walked beside her nonetheless. She wondered if his desire to be behind everyone came from a militaristic need to have everyone's backs or just a lack of trust. Was the space he put between them because he was being respectful or because he didn't particularly like her? Either way, she still wasn't sure how she felt about him yet; she knew there was a lot of distaste for him deep in the pit of her stomach but she didn't exactly hate him either. Perhaps the feeling was neutral.

"I'm gonna head out. See what I can find." She heard Daryl say at the head of the group. He took the AK-47 off his shoulder and passed it to Rick, who was walking beside him with Judith held awkwardly in one arm, her back against his chest.

"Hey, don't be too long." Rick told him.

Carol stepped out of line with the group to follow him. "I'll go with you." She offered, which didn't come as a surprise.

"I got it." Daryl grumbled in her general direction. He didn't want the company, clearly still feeling the brunt of their recent losses.

"You gonna stop me?" Carol replied. There was a hint of humor to her tone, but it was also evident that she was going with him no matter what he said. When Daryl didn't protest further the pair disappeared into the trees.

Thea sighed heavily in frustration. She would have gone with him too, had Carol not. She probably would have just slipped out of sight and into the woods to follow him without a word if she could have. Abraham would have noticed though, nothing got by him.

In front of her Sasha turned to look at the group of walkers that had accumulated behind them and Thea did the same. There was a herd of about a dozen or so, maybe fifteen, and they could take them if they wanted but Rick had voted against it. He hadn't wanted them to use too much energy, and so they were walking just a quarter of a mile ahead of the beasts, always just out of reach. She felt like one of the dead, stumbling down the road with no real destination in mind and longing for a bite of anything worth eating. They had become what they had fought against for so long now.

"We can take 'em." Sasha said to Michonne.

The other woman shook her head. "Rick's right. We barely have anything left. No use in spending it all now."

Sasha, who had lost purpose and yet gained a newfound recklessness in the wake of her brother's death, stopped walking to stare at the walkers again. " _I_ can take 'em."

"Your brother was pissed too, after what he lost. It made him stupid." Michonne retorted.

She meant Karen. Somehow it always came back to Karen.

The numb look on Sasha's face distorted into a bitter scowl. "We are not the same. We never were."

Michonne disagreed. "But it's still the same." She shrugged. "It just is."

There was no response from the last remaining member of the Williams family as she turned and sped up to walk away from Michonne. Clearly she hadn't been crazy about the idea that she was behaving the same way Tyreese had when he had lost Karen. Thea remembered how frustrated Sasha had been at the prison when Ty had refused to take care of himself after his love died, so it was understandable now that the woman would not like the comparison.

But Michonne was right, Sasha was behaving similarly to the way Ty had. And she _was_ going to go off the deep end if she kept it up, if she didn't let anyone help her.

* * *

She was standing in the middle of a bridge, her axe gripped tight in her hand. They had decided that it was time to rid themselves of the herd that had been following them. Rick had come up with a plan that would save them from having to fight the walkers and use too much energy, and it was a good plan.

Carl had taken Judith to the opposite side of the bridge, along with Eugene, Tara, Noah, and Father Gabriel. The rest of the group, minus Daryl and Carol who still hadn't returned, stood on the side closest to the herd in wait. When the walkers reached them, they would simply shove them down the steep hill and into the empty creek bed below the bridge. The walkers wouldn't die, but they wouldn't be a problem for them anymore.

Thea's job was to kill any walkers that managed to slip passed them, which seemed easy enough so long as Rick and the others kept them at bay. She could handle a few stragglers on her own, but if the herd managed to overpower the group then that was a different story. Her heart was pounding. Hopefully this would go as planned and they could be back on the road.

The first walker went after Rick, who backed up to the edge of the hilltop and let the dead thing grab at him. When it was sure it had caught its prey, Rick dodged to the side and shoved the walker hard down the hill. It tumbled down into the creek bed, easy.

This would work.

The group took turns shoving the walkers down the hill, the plan was a good one and it appeared to be working perfectly. And then it was like Thea had thought too soon. Sasha had evidently had enough of this and instead of shoving the next walker down, she grabbed its shoulder and thrust her knife into its skull.

"Sasha!" Michonne scolded, warned her.

"Stay in line. Flank her. Keep it controlled!" Rick instructed.

"Plan just got dicked." Abraham grumbled colorfully.

 _Obviously_.

The group on this side of the bridge jumped into action, fighting off the walkers. Thea stayed put on the bridge just in case any of them got away from the fray. That's when she spotted the two walkers that had descended upon Rick. She lifted her axe and moved towards the sheriff to help him right as one of the walkers leaned in to take a bite just above his elbow. For a second, she thought she was about to witness another life ended, but then Daryl showed up.

He came bursting through the trees and grabbed the walker by the hair. As he yanked it away from Rick its scalp tore and came off in his hands, but he managed to get it away from the sheriff and put it down fairly quickly.

Thea sighed with relief and turned to face the others in time to see Michonne shove Sasha to the ground. She drove her katana through the skull of the last standing walker and turned to point her finger in Sasha's direction.

"I told you to stop!" She growled at the woman in frustration.

Sasha got to her feet and stood inches from Michonne. They were staring at each other for the longest time and the doctor wondered if they were going to witness a fight, but after a moment longer Sasha turned away and began to cross the bridge without a word. Thankfully.

There was an awkward moment of silence before the others moved, but then they were all walking again. No one saying a word as they picked up the pace once more. It was obvious that they all sensed some tension between the two women, but clearly no one was going to point it out. It was under control for now. For now.

Thea didn't blame Michonne for getting upset with Sasha, the woman was grieving in an unhealthy manner that would get someone killed if she wasn't careful.

But she couldn't blame Sasha for the way she was behaving. Thea had acted similarly when she lost Cat and Hank. She had been reckless, careless. It was almost like she hadn't wanted to go on any more. But in the end she realized that she didn't have confirmation of their deaths, she might see them again someday if she tried hard enough to find them. Sasha didn't have that hope to hold onto. She wasn't going to see her brother again.

* * *

She was stuck in the back of the group again. Well, stuck wasn't the proper word considering she put herself in that position. She hadn't wanted to keep the pace, hadn't wanted to keep up appearances. Her heart was hurting more than she thought possible upon meeting this group all those months ago. She hadn't anticipated getting so attached to these people, and yet here she was absolutely wrecked by the loss of Tyreese. She shouldn't have allowed them to pluck her from the lonely life she had set out for herself and bring her home. Having a home in this new world meant that hurt would surely come along with it.

Head down facing the road, she was trying her best to not look again at the blood on her white shirt when she heard Carl speak.

"Dad, look."

There were a dozen cars abandoned on the road just ahead. Some were off the road in the ditches on either side, some were parked on the shoulder, and a few were just left in the center where they had either run out of gas or lost their drivers. It was this world's version of a graveyard, or at least one version, but Thea also knew that it was a chance at finding some supplies. Maybe there was a bottle of water in a floorboard or a protein bar in a glove compartment. Either way, they might find luck in another person's demise.

"I'm gonna head into the woods, circle back." Daryl announced, heading towards the tree line to embark on yet another venture.

Carol stepped to follow him and Thea had to resist rolling her eyes. "May I come with?" The gray-haired woman asked softly.

Unsurprisingly, this time Daryl didn't want any company. "No. No, just me." He told her as he left them.

She watched him go until she couldn't make out the wings on the back of his vest, and then moved to find a car to search through. There was an empty car halfway down the hill into one of the ditches and she moved towards it, setting her axe and bag on the bank before easing down the grassy slope. She pulled open the back door first and froze at the sight of an empty booster seat. It wasn't bloody and there wasn't anything that indicated that the child had died in the car, but it was still shocking to see because a toddler had _once_ been buckled in tightly. Maybe on a ride to the store with its mother or on the way to their granny's house; she could almost picture it.

Falling to her knees, she searched through the trash on the floor behind the driver's seat for anything useful and came up empty handed. Sighing, she stood and leaned over the booster seat to peer at the other side of the back seat for anything. Save for a half empty, travel-sized bottle of hand sanitizer there was nothing on that side either. She grabbed the bottle and placed it on the roof of the car to take later, and then moved on to the front seats.

The driver's side door wouldn't open thanks to a rather large dent, but the passenger's door didn't give her any grief. She slid into the passenger seat and paused for a moment to bask in a few seconds out of the burning sunlight. Then it was back to business.

There was a zippo lighter in one of the cup holders that she scooped up. The center compartment was full of old receipts, loose change, and a stick of deodorant that had melted in the heat of the car and caused all the change at the bottom of the console to stick together. Obviously not of use.

When she popped open the glove compartment she found a stuffed bunny, yellow with a little pink nose and a white cotton tail. She pulled it out and stared at it for a moment before deciding to keep it for Judith. The only other thing she ended up finding was a pack of cigarettes that only had two sticks left in it. She grabbed the lighter, the bunny, and the cigarettes and left the car. She left the door open as she set her findings on the roof and pulled one cig from the pack and placed it between her lips.

She had only smoked once before, with Daryl at the prison, and she didn't really feel the _need_ to smoke now, but it was something to do. And so she lit the end of the white stick and took a long drag. As the nicotine burned her throat she felt a rush flood her brain and for a moment everything felt copasetic. For a moment they weren't on the brunt end of two losses and near starving to death.

"Well, ain't that a pretty sight." Abraham's voice interrupted her semi-peaceful moment.

Thea opened her eyes and found him standing on the other side of the car with a small smile on his face. He lifted a bottle of alcohol up for her to see and nodded. "You give me one of those cigs and I'll share."

She thought about it for only a moment before remembering that alcohol was never the answer when dehydrated. She shook her head and picked up her findings, shoving the pack and lighter in her back pocket and then turning and walking back up the hill without a word.

* * *

"So all we found was booze?" Tara asked quietly sometime later as they all sat on the side of the road after Daryl had returned.

"Yeah." Rosita answered glumly, watching as Abraham unscrewed the cap and sniffed the alcohol.

Tara was staring at the dirt. "It's not gonna help."

"He knows that."

"It's gonna make it worse."

"Yes, it is."

Eugene cut in. "He's a grown man. And I truly do not know if things can get worse."

"They can." Rosita told him.

As if on cue a rustling noise came from the bushes, quickly followed by a series of animalistic growls. Thea's hand reached out to grip the handle of her axe as she trained her eyes on the tree line in anticipation for what would come through it. A few seconds later four dogs emerged from the brush. There was a German Shepard, two Dobermans, and one Border Collie, all with dirty and blood-soaked fur. They were emaciated, bones showing and lips curling up around sharp teeth. The dogs began barking at them in warning of an impending attack and Thea knew they were going to try and take the group on.

Suddenly, four silenced shots were released and all of the dogs were put down in one quick succession. All eyes moved to Sasha, who stood with her rifle poised and face stoic as if she hadn't just shot four animals down point blank. They watched her for a moment before Rick stood and broke the trance.

He moved to pick up some fallen branches from the ground, breaking them in half over his knee. It only took a second for Thea to realize what he was doing and her stomach dropped. Her eyes fell on the now dead Border Collie that looked so much like the dog her grandmother had back home in England and she had to resign herself to the truth of this new world: Everything is food for something else.

* * *

None of the cars had any gas and so they were reduced to walking once more. It wasn't so bad now that they had eaten some protein, but they were still running extremely and dangerously low on water. Thea had only been able to eat a small bit of the meat, both unable to bring herself to disconnect with the fact that it was a _dog_ she was eating and unable to fit much in her stomach after so long of not eating.

Her muscles still felt weak, her head still felt fuzzy, but she had to keep moving; she didn't get to give up.

"Thea." Glenn's voice broke her train of thought.

She turned to face him and found his arm outstretched towards her, his water bottle in hand. She shook her head, waving a hand at him. "No, no, I'm good." She told him. "Save it for Judith."

"She has some, you need some." Glenn informed her.

Thea's eyes traveled to the baby cradled in her father's arms. She was sucking on a bottle full of water in an attempt to cool off. It had been top priority for them to make sure that she never ran out of something to drink, and Thea didn't want to take away what could be given to her later. But Glenn wasn't letting up, and so she reached over and took the bottle. If she could have it her way, she would gulp down the whole thing, but she simply unscrewed the cap and took two small sips. The water hit her tongue and she had to resist with everything in her not drinking more.

Handing the bottle back to Glenn, she wished she felt better but in reality two sips did little to stop the headache that was on its way to a full blown migraine soon. She needed more, and they didn't have more. And she wanted to smoke the second cigarette from the pack too, but she didn't want to waste it.

Glenn turned and offered the bottle to Daryl.

"Nah, I'm all right." The archer grumbled, his voice somehow even more gravely without water to lubricate his vocal cords.

Glenn sighed heavily, clearly not enjoying a second person refusing water. "Daryl." He persisted.

"Don't."

Glenn stepped closer to him to speak quietly. "Hey, we can make it together. But we can _only_ make it together." He turned and walked away from Daryl then, giving up on offering him water.

Daryl's eyes met Thea's for a few small seconds before he turned to Abraham. "Tell 'em I'm looking for water." He said before slipping off into the woods.

The defeat he was feeling was almost palpable and Thea wanted to follow him into the woods and just be there with him if he needed it, but she knew he wasn't the type of guy to accept help, especially with emotions. It would be best not to upset him further, there was no telling what he would do or how he would react. He was like a kid who had been told he was worthless so many times that he had started to believe it. And now he had lost the one person who thought he was special, and that took all his worth away. It was obvious that Beth had managed to become someone important to him.

Thea wasn't sure if it was jealousy she felt towards the deceased young girl or if it was envy.

A whistle came from the front of the group and she turned her gaze from the trees to their leader. Rick's attention was focused on the ground and she had to move around some of the other members to see what he was looking at, but when she did her heart skipped a tiny beat.

Water. Someone had left four, gallon-sized jugs of water and 10 bottles of water on the road with a note reading "From a Friend". Thea's mouth was so dry suddenly that she wanted to step forward and snatch up one of the jugs and guzzle it down in one fell swoop, but she knew that this wasn't good. She knew that this was a trap somehow, whether the water was poisoned or it was a test of some sort wasn't clear.

The group gathered around the water and stared down at it, all trying to decide whether or not they should take the water. On one hand, they really needed it and would die without it. On the other hand, they could die if they _took_ the water, too. This was the ultimate test of their strength and the weakness in Thea's body was seriously testing her will to resist.

Daryl emerged from the trees once again and Rick moved to hand him the sign to fill him in on the new development.

"What else are we gonna do?" Tara asked them all.

Rick shook his head. "Not this. We don't know who left it."

"Or what's in it." Thea added, throat dry.

"If that's a trap, we already happen to be in it." Eugene stated. "But I, for one, would like to think it is indeed from a friend."

Thea shook her head, wondering just how much the heat had gotten to him to have him thinking that this was a good idea.

"What if it isn't? They put something in it, like Thea said?" Carol interjected.

Thea didn't have time to think about how _Carol_ had just agreed with her because Eugene suddenly stepped forward and scooped up a bottle, unscrewing the lid quickly as the others jumped in surprise. He had moved faster than Thea had ever seen him move, and faster than she thought possible with the way they had all been moving weakly.

"Eugene!" Rosita exclaimed in alarm.

Tara faced him with a furrowed brow. "What are you doing, dude?"

"Quality assurance." With that Eugene lifted the bottle to his lips and began to take a sip. Just as the water touched his mouth, Abraham shot forward and smacked the bottle right out of his hands. The water sloshed up on his face and splashed the ground as the plastic hit the ground with a clap.

"We _can't_." Rick stated firmly.

Thunder rumbled overhead, loud and intimidating. Thea turned her face up to the sky and took in the dark clouds that had swept in and covered the sun as they had been standing there. She found herself hoping and praying for some rain, even just a light drizzle, and then it happened. She felt a single drop hit her cheekbone and then it was like the flood gates had opened. It began to rain down on them in a steady downpour that felt a lot like the storms back home in England, and Thea felt relief wash over her.

Carol let out an excited laugh as the others began to rejoice in the feeling of the cool rain. Tara and Rosita lay themselves down on the road and basked in it. Thea closed her eyes, face still turned up to the sky as she let the rain wash away her exhaustion, but she didn't let herself enjoy it too long.

She sprung back into attention, pulling her backpack off her back and unzipping the large pocket to pull out her empty water bottle. Then, she turned and grabbed a large leaf off of a nearby tree. She used the leaf as a funnel so that she could catch more water and direct it into the bottle, not wanting to stand and take it on faith the raindrops would go into the small mouth of the bottle.

Behind her, she heard Father Gabriel begin to weep. "I'm sorry my lord." He apologized to the sky.

She met Rick's eyes for a moment and then he turned to the group. "Everybody get the bags. Anything you can find. Come on." He instructed, following her lead.

As the group began to lay stuff out on the ground to collect rain a loud clap of thunder came from above, startling Judith into tears. The rain started falling harder and it was evident that a serious storm was beginning. What was at first a relief was now a nuisance.

"Let's keep moving!" Rick shouted over the storm.

Daryl stepped forward. "There's a barn!" he told the sheriff.

"Where?"

* * *

Daryl led them to a small, wooden barn to seek shelter from the storm. After a few of the group had gone inside to ensure it was safe, they had gone in and set up camp for the night. They had managed to set up a mall fire using some kindling found in the barn and the lighter Thea had found. Thea, along with Daryl, Glenn, Carol, Rick and Michonne, were sitting around the fire that night as the others tried to get some rest.

No one had spoken for quite some time, but as Daryl leaned forward to place more twigs into the fire the spell was broken. Instead of placing them in however, he simply sighed and dropped the kindling back to the ground.

"I'll try." Glenn offered as Daryl sat back down.

"Nah, too wet." Daryl grumbled.

The fire wasn't large enough to really provide them with enough warmth and Thea wrapped her arms around herself as she stared into the flames.

"He's gonna be okay." Carol spoke up, speaking to Rick as she noticed him staring at a sleeping Carl and Judith. "He bounces back, more than any of us."

Rick exhaled slowly. "I used to feel sorry for kids that have to grow up now. In this. But I think I got it wrong. Growing up is getting used to the world. This is easier for them."

"This isn't the world. This isn't it." Michonne muttered.

Glenn turned to look at where Maggie was laying with her back to them. It wasn't clear if the woman was actually asleep or not. "It might be. It might." He agreed with Rick.

Thea shook her head as Michonne responded. "That's giving up."

"It's reality." Came Glenn's argument.

Thea turned to gauge Daryl's reaction but found him staring at the fire with an expressionless face, and so she turned back to Rick.

"Until we see otherwise, this is what we have to live with." Rick paused for a long few moments before continuing. "When I was a kid…I asked my grandpa once if he ever killed any Germans in the war. He wouldn't answer. He said that was grown-up stuff, so…I asked if the Germans ever tried to kill him. But he got real quiet. He said he was dead the minute he stepped into enemy territory. Every day he woke up he told himself, "Rest in peace. Now get up and go to war." And then after a few years of pretending he was dead…he made it out alive."

Thea found herself thinking back to hearing about her own grandfather's experiences in the second world war. She and Catherine would ask him about what he had done and what he remembered. She distinctly recalled her grandfather telling them he remembered _everything_.

"That's the trick of it, I think." Rick was continuing. "We do what we need to do, and _then_ we get to live. But no matter what we find in D.C., I know we'll be okay. Because this is how _we_ survive. We tell ourselves…that _we_ are the walking dead."

Her eyes were locked on his thick beard, unable to meet his eyes as she realized that he was right. They were basically the dead now, walking slowly and almost aimlessly in a dead world and just barely managing to keep out of reach of the monsters that chased them. She couldn't believe it and yet she did.

"We ain't them." Came Daryl's voice suddenly as he moved to throw more twigs in the fire, avoiding Rick's gaze.

"We're not them. Hey." Rick waited until the archer looked at him. "We're not."

Daryl stood. "We ain't them." he repeated before picking up his crossbow and walking away from them to the other side of the barn.

Thea once again felt the urge to follow, but she stayed put and lowered her gaze once more to the fire. Outside she could hear the storm beginning to rage harder and she wondered if the winds would blow the barn right over on top of them. Or pick the whole thing up like a blanket and leave them exposed to the elements. She shivered and tightened her arms around herself.

A shout from across the barn had her jumping in surprise and she turned to see Daryl standing against the doors trying to hold them closed as they rocked with the weight of something big. Was it the wind or something more?

Maggie was the first to run to help him, followed by Sasha, and then Thea jumped to her feet. She sped over to the doors and threw herself against the wood between Maggie and Daryl. And then she heard it, a growling and snarling from the other side of the door. A herd, probably riled up from the storm, and they were pressing themselves against the barn doors in an attempt to get to the food inside.

 _Shit._

Thea turned and pressed her back against the wood, using the strength in her legs to keep her in place. Her feet were sliding in the dirt as she shoved herself against the door but she didn't let up. One-by-one the others in the group caught on to the situation and joined the four of them in trying to keep the doors shut. She was trapped against the door and Glenn as they group piled up on each other and the closeness of being in the center of it was suffocating but she stayed in place for fear that one wrong move would send the doors flying open and the walkers would be upon them.

She wondered when they would catch a break.

* * *

It was later that night when Thea woke up. Or rather she gave up on trying to sleep. The fire had long since been put out and everyone else had gone to bed. The walkers outside had calmed down and gone away with the storm but she had only felt a tiny bit of relief. She still had that sinking feeling in her gut that something big was coming.

Sitting up, she ran her hands through her hair and glanced around at the others to see who was awake, everyone appeared to be asleep except for Daryl who was sitting against the far wall with something in his hands. After a moment's hesitation, she rose to her feet and moved across the barn towards him. If everyone else was asleep maybe she could finally talk to him without him running away from her, they were trapped in here for the rest of the night after all.

"Hey," She said softly as she approached. He merely glanced up from what he was working on and she sat down beside him, drawing her knees up to her chest and resting her elbows over them. It was then she noticed that he had a music box in his hands and appeared to be working on the gears in the bottom of the box. "Where'd you find that?" she wondered in a whisper so as not to wake the others.

He grunted at her and for a second she thought he wouldn't answer, but then he shrugged. "Carl gave it to Maggie but it doesn't work." He told her, not taking his eyes off the box.

"You're going to fix it?" She asked, even though it was obvious that he was trying to do just that.

Daryl didn't seem fazed by it. "Figured she needed something. After Beth."

It was the first time that she had heard him say the young girl's name since before Terminus when they had revealed their truths by that creek. It was barely a whisper of her name, but now that she was gone it felt like it was right, like saying it any louder would be disrespectful in some way.

Thea nodded her head. "I'm sorry we couldn't save her." She fixed her eyes on the music box with the small blonde ballerina and hoped this direction of conversation wouldn't send Daryl to the other side of the barn.

His answer was unexpected. "I'm sorry about Tyreese."

Here she was ready to talk to him about the friend he had lost and somehow he had turned it around on her. She wanted to redirect the conversation to his grief, but something in the way he said it had her believing that he wanted to hear her out in some way. She only felt slightly guilty about taking the bait.

"I thought that I could save him." She whispered, looking down at her hands. "I thought that maybe if I just kept him alive long enough to get him back to the group we could do something. Cauterize the wound or _something_." She shook her head at the ridiculous notion.

"You tried." He responded after a moment.

She shook her head again. "I was in over my head. And I think he was long gone before we got to him. He was feverish and delirious…in the end he wasn't making any sense. I thought we were rushing him back to the group to save him, but I realized that we were just trying to get him back to say goodbye." She turned her gaze down to the stains on her shirt. They weren't as prominent now that her shirt had been soaked by the previous rain, but they were still there. Still reminding her of what had happened.

"If you couldn't save him, no one could."

Thea's eyes snapped to his in surprise and she found him watching her with an expression she couldn't read. She hadn't seen it on his face before and she wasn't sure what it meant, but it was softer than the usual squint he watched her with.

"Tried your best, that's what matters." He added, averting his eyes back to the music box.

Thea had to blink back the tears that were threatening to fall. The notion that he didn't blame her for Ty's death hit her hard. She had been blaming herself since it happened, like it was her fault he had died. She cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and swallowed. "And you did too. With Beth. You never gave up on finding her, you _did_ find her."

He grunted, uncomfortable with the attention placed on him, and stuck his hand inside the music box in an attempt to pull a portion of the gears out but his hand was too big for it. He offered the box to her and when she frowned at him, he shook it. "Your hands are smaller. Pull out that little gear in the back there."

She wondered why he was avoiding the subject but at the same time knew that it would be odd if he didn't. Slowly, she reached up and took the box from him. She stuck her hand in the gap and felt around for the gear he was talking about. When her fingers brushed it she twisted until it came off in her hand and then pulled it out, offering it to him. He picked the rust off it with his finger nail before handing it back for her to replace inside the music box.

It felt oddly natural working with him to fix something so trivial and after the direction their conversation had gone in she wondered if he had asked for her help on purpose, if he had even needed it in the first place. Either way she was happy to help him if it somehow demolished the wall that had been placed between them after Carol had returned. She found that she liked having him in her corner more than she liked having him at arm's length.

With the gear back in place she handed the box back to him and he placed the back panel back onto it before turning the crank. The little ballerina immediately began to spin in a circle as a tune began to play. She felt a tiny bit of triumph and a small smile spread across her face. She recognized the music but couldn't remember the name of the piece or who had written it.

"Beth was a fighter. She went out like that." He said suddenly, continuing a conversation she thought was over.

She recalled the scissors Beth had stabbed into Dawn's neck, remembered having wondered why she had stabbed the cop in the first place. Now she understood why the girl had done it, though she found herself wishing she hadn't. She nodded. "She was stronger than I thought she was at the prison. Smarter. I don't know how, but she figured out what happened to me and confronted me…she told me that I needed to tell someone so that something could be done with Hoyt."

Daryl hummed in response and nodded slowly, chewing on his bottom lip in thought. "She was a good kid." He added quietly. "Called me on my shit when I was being an ass."

Thea couldn't help but laugh at the visual that came to mind: tiny little Beth yelling at Daryl to get it together. She laughed lightly, her shoulders shaking just a little bit. "I like her more, now." She teased him, earning a scoff in response. But he chuckled once, agreeing with her. She felt like they were friends again, if that was what they were before.

She covered her mouth as a yawn escaped her and he nudged his elbow against hers. "Should get some sleep." He commented, eyes on the dirt like he didn't want her to see that he cared if she was tired or not.

She nodded and watched him for a second before rising. "You should too." She said before offering him a small smile and turning to go back to the little spot in the dirt that she had been laying on earlier. Maybe now she that they had squashed whatever bug was between them she could get some rest.

* * *

The next morning everyone was quiet. Everyone was doing their own thing as they waited for Rick to decide when they would move out, that was until Maggie and Sasha returned with a surprise.

"Hey!" Maggie called to them as she pulled the barn doors open. "Everyone…this is Aaron."

Thea sprung to her feet, as did everyone else in the group, as a man followed Maggie into the barn with Sasha directly behind him. He looked nice enough, if not a little nervous, and wore khaki pants with a plaid shirt and a jacket. The most startling thing about him was how _clean_ he was. This man wasn't living on the road, he had somewhere with water and shelter.

Daryl moved passed him and went to check the outside for anyone else, then he shut the doors and turned to search the man for weapon, _Aaron._

"We met him outside. He's by himself. We took his weapons and we took his gear." Maggie informed them, eyes trained on Rick.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you." Aaron said nervously, causing Judith to immediately start crying. As the infant was passed from her father to her brother, the newcomer stepped forward as if to shake Rick's hand and stopped when everyone tensed.

Rick's eyes were trained on him, and Thea wondered what he was thinking. "You said he had a weapon?" He asked Maggie.

The woman came forward and handed him a small revolver, the kind that most women had in their cars but never used. Rick looked thoroughly unimpressed with it as he checked the bullets and then stuffed it in the back of his pants.

"There something you need?" He asked Aaron.

Sasha answered for him. "He has a camp… _nearby_. He wants us to audition for membership."

Thea frowned and crossed her arms over her chest instinctively, like it would protect her somehow. _Audition? What was this, a theater company?_

"I wish there was another word. Audition makes it sound like we're some kind of dance troupe." Aaron said lightly. "That's only on Friday nights." When no one laughed at his joke he shook his head awkwardly. "Um, and it's not a camp. It's a community. I think you all would make valuable additions. But it's not my call. My job is to convince you all to follow me back home." He paused and eyed them cautiously to gauge their reactions. "I know. If I were you, I wouldn't go either. Not until I knew exactly what I was getting into. Sasha, can you hand Rick my pack?"

Sasha hesitated only for a second before taking the bag over to the sheriff and then returning to where she had been standing behind Aaron, her gun in hand.

"Front pocket, there's an envelope. There's no way I could convince you to come with me just by talking about our community. That's why I brought those." Aaron explained as Rick pulled a stack of photos from the envelope. "I apologize in advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last—."

"Nobody gives a shit." Daryl interrupted him in a low growl.

Aaron turned to look back at the archer and nodded. "You're absolutely 100% right." He agreed before facing Rick once more. "That's the first picture I wanted to show you because nothing I say about our community will mater unless you know you'll be safe. If you join us, you _will_ be. Each panel in that wall is a 15-foot-high, 12-foot-wide slab of solid steel framed by cold-rolled steel beams and square tubing."

Thea glanced over trying to get a good look at the photo, but Rick stood and the stack was out of her view.

"Nothing alive or dead gets through that without our say-so. Like I said, security is obviously important. In fact, there's only one resource more critical to our community's survival – the people."

He was really going for it with this pitch and Thea was growing curious. Was this really another safe haven or were they about to become trapped in a freight car like Terminus? Were the pictures in Rick's hands really of the place Aaron was telling them about or were they a trap too? And how many times had he given this speech before?

"Together we're strong. You can make us stronger." Aaron paused to gauge their reactions and then continued. "The next picture you'll see inside our gates."

Rick was moving forward now and with the way he was walking, photos transferred to his left hand, Thea knew this wasn't going to end well. She stepped forward in panic as if she was going to stop him.

Aaron was still talking. "Our community was construc—."

The recruiter was cut off abruptly as Rick's fist met his jaw, _hard._ He fell to the ground unconscious and Thea immediately moved towards him, eyes wide with worry. Rick had put everything he had into the punch and Aaron might had sustained a concussion. She kneeled beside his head and first felt for a pulse, relieved to see it was steady. She lifted one of his eyelids to see how his pupils responded to the light and everything seemed normal. Small mercies.

"So we're clear, that look wasn't a 'let's attack that man' look. It was a 'he seems like an okay guy to me' look." Michonne was saying to Rick, her voice raised an octave in surprise.

Rick ignored her. "We've got to secure him. Dump his pack. Let's see what this guy really is."

"Rick." Michonne tried to get his attention to no avail.

"Everybody else we need eyes in every direction. They're coming for us. we might not know how or when, but they are." Rick instructed, clearly paranoid.

Daryl and Carol came to kneel down by the unconscious man and began to tie his hands and feet as Thea glared at Rick for a moment. She hadn't felt any maliciousness in the way Aaron had been speaking, he seemed so incredibly genuine. With Gareth she had felt like something was off upon the first meeting, but this man didn't seem like a bad person at all.

She turned to Maggie. "I need you to wet a cloth for me, please. There's some water in my bag." As the woman turned to find something to use, Thea cradled Aaron's head in one hand to keep it in line with his body, her other hand at his pulse point just in case anything changed. The steady rise and fall of his chest as he breathed should have been enough indication that he was fine, but she wanted to be sure. Didn't want a stranger dying on her watch.

Maggie returned with a handkerchief she had found somewhere and poured some of the water from Thea's bottle over it until it was nice and damp before handing it to the doctor, who folded it and gently pressed it to the bruise forming on the stranger's jaw.

"Me and Sasha, we didn't see him." Maggie told Rick. "If he had wanted to hurt us, he could've."

"Anybody see anything?" Rick asked those watching through holes in the barn instead of responding to the woman.

Glenn sighed. "Just a lot of places to hide."

"All right, keep looking."

Thea sighed heavily in frustration and adjusted the handkerchief as Aaron let out a groan. He stirred a tiny bit and then laughed lightly.

"That's a hell of a right cross there, Rick." He commented as he tested the movement in his jaw.

"Sit him up." Rick instructed.

Thea shook her head and faced the sheriff. "I think it's better if he—."

"It's okay." Aaron reassured her with a groan.

"He's fine. Sit him up." Rick ordered.

Thea hesitated and only after receiving a nod from Aaron did she help him sit up, along with Michonne's help. She stayed crouched beside him though, wet handkerchief in hand in case he needed it.

"You're being cautious, I completely understand." He told Rick.

Rick was in full sheriff mode now, interrogating a suspect. "How many of your people are out there? You have a flare gun. You have it to signal your people. How many of them are there?" he demanded to know.

"Does it matter?" Aaron sighed.

"Yes. Yes, it does."

"I mean, of course, it matters how many people are _actually_ out there, but does it matter how many people I _tell_ you are out there? Because I'm pretty sure no matter what number I say—eight, 32, 444, zero—no matter what I say, you're not going to trust me."

It made complete sense. Whether he told the truth or lied they would still be skeptical.

Rick's head ticked to the side. "Well it's hard to trust anyone who smiles after getting punched in the face."

"How about a guy who leaves bottles of water for you in the road?" Aaron retorted.

Thea snapped her eyes to his face in surprise, eyebrows raised. She hadn't put it together that he could be the one who had left them the water, but now it made sense. Maybe it _had_ been a test after all, a test to see if they were good enough for his _community_.

"How long you people been following us?" Daryl asked angrily.

"Long enough to see that you practically ignored a pack of roamers on your trail. Long enough to see that despite a lack of food and water, you never turned on each other. You're survivors _and_ you're people. Like I said, and I hope you won't punch me for saying it again, that is the most important resource in the world."

Rick stepped forward again and Thea felt herself straighten up instinctively as if she would put herself in front of him if he tried to punch Aaron again. It was a silly notion that she would protect a stranger from someone she had grown to trust with her life, but something about this man seemed so earnest and she wanted to protect that.

"How many other are out there?" Rick asked again instead.

Aaron's voice was steady as he answered, honestly. "One." When Rick shook his head he sighed. "Knew you wouldn't believe me. If it's not words, if it's not pictures, what would it take to convince you that this is for real?"

When no one responded, Aaron continued. "What if I drove you to the community? All of you? We leave now, we'll get there by lunch."

"I'm not sure how the sixteen of us are going to fit in the one car you and your friend drove here in." Rick replied condescendingly.

Aaron shook his head. "We drove separately. If we found a group, we wanted to be able to bring them all home. There's enough room for all of us."

Carol didn't seem to believe him. "And you're parked just a couple of miles away, right?" she asked, her voice almost teasing like she didn't believe it was real.

The newcomer was quick to supply the location. "East on Ridge Road, just after you hit Route 16. We wanted to get them closer, but then the storm came, blocked the road. We couldn't clear it.

"Yeah, you've really thought this through." Rick commented.

"Rick, if I wanted to ambush you, I'd do it here. You know, light the barn on fire while you slept, pick you off as you ran out the only exit. You can trust me."

Once again he had a point. He had been given several chances to get the drop on them. He had been watching them long enough without them knowing and could have attacked them then. He could have taken Maggie and Sasha hostage this morning and used them as leverage. He could have _lit the barn on fire and picked them off one-by-one_. With all those opportunities he hadn't done a single thing and that was enough reason for Thea to trust him.

And she wanted to go to his community. Something was drawing her there and she wasn't sure if it was her desire to no longer live on the road or something greater.

"I'll check out the cars." Michonne offered.

Rick scoffed. "There _aren't_ any cars."

"There's only one way to find out." Argued Michonne.

"We don't need to find out." Rick countered. He wasn't letting up.

Michonne seemed just as sure about this as Thea. " _We do_. You know what you know and you're sure of it, but I'm not."

It was so odd to see the woman contradict what Rick was thinking considering the two of them usually agreed on most things. Thea didn't blame Rick for being skeptical after everything they had been through, but at the same time she chose to have hope that this would be a good thing; the good thing they needed.

"Me neither." Maggie added her opinion.

Rick glanced at her before looking back at Michonne. "Your way is dangerous, mine isn't."

He was so stubborn Thea wanted to wring his neck.

"Passing up on some place where we can live? Where _Judith_ can live? That's pretty dangerous. We _need_ to find out what this is. We can handle ourselves. So that's what we're gonna do." Michonne's decision was made and she was standing her ground against Rick, which wasn't an easy feat.

"Then I will, too. I'll go." Glenn spoke up from where he had been watching them silently.

There was a long moment where it wasn't clear what Rick would do, but finally he shook his head and turned to look behind him. "Abraham?"

The redheaded man shifted his gun in his arms and nodded. "Yeah, I'll walk with them."

Rick turned back to the others. "Rosita?" He asked of the Latina woman.

"Okay." She agreed.

Thea wasn't sure if he was agreeing with them now or if he was simply humoring them, but she was grateful that he would take the time to see where this could lead. She was both relieved and hopeful. She found herself praying that this would end well for them. After Ty's death she had realized that they weren't safe on the run and she did not want to die out here.

Their reluctant sheriff turned towards Glenn. "If there's trouble, you got enough fire powers?" he asked.

"We got what we got." Glenn replied.

Rick pulled Aaron's gun out of the back of his pants and handed it over to him. As Thea's eyes were trained on them she didn't notice Daryl approaching Aaron until he had pulled the newcomer to his feet. She turned around quickly and stood to follow them as Daryl took him over to one of the posts and sat him down against it. As he left him there, Thea kneeled beside him again and reached out to examine his jaw.

"You all right?" she asked him, dabbing at the bruise with the still damp handkerchief. It had started to dry but was still cool enough to hopefully soothe the ache.

He seemed surprised by her gentleness. "I'll be fine. It's not the first time I've been hit in the face." He told her with a small smile.

She liked him already. "Let me know if you start feeling dizzy or light headed, okay?"

He nodded and frowned curiously. "Are you a doctor?" He wondered.

Thea return his nod with one of her own. "I was a surgeon. In the old world."

"If we're all in here, we're a target." Rick was saying behind her, drawing her attention away from her patient.

When she turned she realized that Michonne, Glenn, Abraham, Maggie, and Rosita had already left to go find the cars.

"I've got the area covered." Daryl said, moving towards the doors.

"All right. Groups of two. Find somewhere safe within eyeshot." Rick instructed them, waiting for them all to leave the barn. When Thea didn't move he turned to her, Judith propped on his hip, with a raised eyebrow expectantly.

Standing, Thea crossed her arms over her chest defiantly. "I'm staying." She said simply, earning a cock of the head from the sheriff. He didn't like her refusing to listen to him, apparently.

"I don't think that's a good idea." He said, eyeing Aaron behind her.

Thea's eyes widened slightly in surprise and she stepped away from their hostage, leading the sheriff to the far corner to speak quietly with him. "What are you going to do if I leave you alone with him, Rick?" she asked.

His blue eyes bore into hers with a stern glare that had her wondering what he would do if she didn't leave right this moment. Would he yell? Would he get angry like she had seen him get before? That way when he became a _different_ Rick Grimes.

"What do you think I'm gonna do?"

Thea shook her head. "I-I don't think you're going to do _that_. I'm just concerned you're going to try and hit him again, because frankly I don't think he could take another hit without serious repercussions regardless of what he's saying." She paused and offered him a small smile. "Because he was right about one thing, Rick, you _do_ have a mean right cross."

Judith whimpered in her father's arms and he adjusted her into a more comfortable positon on his hip. "If I promise not to hit him, will you go?" He asked.

"No." She answered simply.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes closing in frustration before he nodded. "Okay, fine. You can stay. But if the others aren't back in an hour…" he didn't finish his sentence before he turned and moved to watch the group that had gone to hide from the crack in the barn door.

Aaron watched him for a moment before beginning to speak. "When the world was still the world, I worked for an NGO. Our mission was to deliver medicine and food to the Niger River Delta. Bad people pointed guns in my face every other week. You're not bad people. You're not going to kill us. and we are definitely not going to kill you."

Rick didn't turn around as he responded. "Just because we're good people doesn't mean we won't kill you. If the five of them aren't back in an hour…I'll put a knife in the base of your skull." He closed the doors as Judith began to cry and moved to the table they had spread Aaron's things out on to grab a bowl and attempt to mash some acorns up for the baby to eat.

Thea found herself shocked by his threat, but didn't show it as she moved to stand against the post opposite Aaron.

"You did see the jar of applesauce in my bag, right?" he asked, earning a glare from Rick. "This isn't a trick. This isn't about trying to make you like me. It's self-preservation. Because if the roamers hear her and come this way, I know I'll be the first to go."

Rick hesitated for only a moment before putting away his gun, which he had been using the butt of to attempt mashing the acorns. He stood, muttering calming words to the baby as he opened the jar and scooped out a spoonful, taking it over to Aaron to taste first.

The other man was incredibly offended by the insinuation that there was something in the applesauce. "You think I'm trying to poison your baby daughter? I'm tied up and you've already expressed a willingness to stab me in the head. How would cruelling killing your daughter in front of you in any way help the situation?"

Rick crouched down beside him as Judith continued to cry. "Maybe she doesn't die. Maybe she gets sick. Maybe you're the only one that can help her and I just lose."

"I _am_ the only one who can help her because I have applesauce and we all win." As Rick thrust the spoon in his direction he shrunk away from it in disgust. "I hate applesauce. My mom used to make me eat foods I didn't like to make me more manly. Salmon patties, applesauce, and onions. She was a very confused woman who tried her damndest. I _just_ bring the jar to show that we have apple trees nearby."

Rick didn't care in the slightest that Aaron wasn't a fan of applesauce. "Like you said, you'll be the first to go." He held the spoon out until the blonde man reluctantly took a bite. His face scrunched up in disgust as he swallowed and Rick ate the rest of it off the spoon just to be safe before standing and taking Judith back over to the table to feed her.

After Aaron had recovered he began speaking again. "The community is big enough. We can find a place for you to live where even if she cries, no one, nothing can hear it outside the walls."

Rick simply looked at his watch in response. "You got 43 minutes."

* * *

Thirty-eight minutes later the group had returned with a stockpile of supplies from the RV that had been parked with Aaron's car, as he had said. They found no indication that the other person who had come with the man was anywhere in the area, which only meant that he or she had fled the scene. They were out there somewhere.

Rick picked up one of the cans of food and looked over at Aaron. "This, this is ours now." He informed him.

Aaron nodded. "There's more than enough."

"It's ours whether or not we go to your camp."

Carl stepped forward with a frown. "What do you mean? Why wouldn't we go?" he asked in confusion.

Michonne reached out to calm him with a hand on his arm. "If he were lying or if he wanted to hurt us…but he isn't and he doesn't. We need this. So we're going, all of us. Somebody say something if they feel differently."

Daryl was the first to speak. "I don't know, man. This barn smells like horse shit." He commented.

"Yeah, we're going." Rick agreed, turning to Aaron. "So where are we going? Where is your camp?"

The recruiter was hesitant. "Well, every time I've done this, I've been behind the wheel driving the recruits back. I believe you are good people. I've bet my life on it. I'm just not ready to bet my friends' lives just yet."

Michonne moved to stand in front of him as Rick grabbed the map they had found in the RV off the table. "You're not driving. So if you want to get home, you'll have to tell us how."

Rick placed the map down on the ground and waited for Aaron to finally give in. When he did, the blonde man sighed heavily. "Go north on Route 16."

"And then?" Michonne pressed.

"I'll tell you when we get there."

Rick shook his head. "We'll take 23 north, you'll give us directions from there."

"That's—I don't know how else to say it—that's a bad idea. We've cleared 16. It'll be faster." Aaron protested.

"We'll take 23. We leave at sundown."

From the doorway, Sasha spoke up. "We're doing this at night?"

Rick was beginning to look fed up with the defiance of the group. "Look, I know it's dangerous. But it's better than riding up to the gates during the day. If it isn't safe, we need to get gone before they know we're there."

"No one is going to hurt you," Aaron urged. "You're trying to protect your group, but you're putting them in danger."

"Tell me where the camp is, we'll leave right now." When Aaron shook his head in refusal, he shrugged. "It's going to be a long night. Eat. Get some rest if you can." With that, he turned and walked out the doors, Michonne following after him quickly.

* * *

That night Thea found herself stuffed into the RV with the majority of the group. Aaron, Rick, Glenn, and Michonne had taken the car they were now following, with the newcomer giving directions from the backseat. Thea was sitting on the floor in front of the small kitchen counter with her legs crossed, trying to make as much room as possible for the other twelve people stuffed into the RV.

The fact that Rick had finally agreed to check out Aaron's camp was a huge step and she found herself sincerely hoping that this would end well for them. She didn't want to get her hopes up after everything they had been through since being forced out of the prison. She still had that fear in her heart that they were walking into another Terminus situation and that somehow Gareth would be there waiting for her, to finish what he had started with her.

That idea had her standing abruptly and moving to the back of the RV where there was a small room with a bed and a small seating area. Everyone had decided to stay out of the room and stay close together in the open space of the RV so she was alone here. Alone so she could sit on the short bench and put her head between her knees in an attempt to stop the panic that was rising in her chest.

Where had this come from so suddenly when she had been fine before they had decided to make the journey to Aaron's home? Was it the image of Gareth standing over her with that smirk that had caused it or had it been there all along just waiting for the right moment?

A hand on her back startled her and she sat up quickly, flinching away instinctively, only to find it was Carol standing over her. She raised an eyebrow in surprise, unsure why the woman had come to check on her after all they had been through. She had a vision of the moment she had punched the older woman in the face flash before her eyes.

"You okay?" Carol asked. She was speaking quietly and it wasn't clear if it was to keep their conversation private or if she didn't want anyone to know she was acting like she cared.

Thea swallowed the rebuff that had been on her lips and shook her head once. "I'm fine." She lied, averting her gaze to the bed in front of her.

Carol wasn't stupid, and if the stories Thea had heard of the woman's deceased husband were true she knew what a traumatized person looked like and how they behaved, so it wasn't a surprise when she scoffed and sat down on the bed. She put herself directly in the doctor's eyesight on purpose.

"No. You're not."

She sounded so sure of it that Thea found herself unable to continue on with the lie. Sure it would be easier to just walk away and forget about it, but sometimes it was easier to talk to someone if you didn't care what they thought of you.

And Thea could not care less if Carol was judging her.

Glancing towards the open doorway to make sure no one was watching, she could only see Daryl from where she sat. He was focused on something he was doing with his crossbow but it felt like he might have an ear in their direction.

"Daryl told me what happened." Carol spoke up before she could.

The words stung her enough that she flinched and turned in surprise. Had Daryl told Carol about the prison? About Hoyt? After all the progress they had made she found herself wondering if it had been a bad idea. Found herself wondering if Daryl was just relaying everything she told him back to his best friend. She wanted to cry.

"What did he tell you?" Her voice was barely a whisper as she tried to hold in her emotions, anger and frustration taking over.

Carol didn't seem to notice that she was upset, or she just didn't care. "That you almost shot one of the cops in Atlanta. He said that there was this look in your eyes…that maybe I should talk to you."

That was surprising, and yet it wasn't. She should have known he wouldn't have told her about her assault, Daryl wasn't the kind of person to divulge that sort of information about someone without their permission and she felt bad for doubting it for a second. But why had he told Carol about that cop in Atlanta? Why had it been so significant that it had stuck in his memory even after losing Beth?

Thea shrugged. "He was trying to kill Daryl. I did what anyone else would do." She replied as nonchalantly as she could.

"You and I both know there's more to it."

Her eyes fell to the floor and she ran the toe of her boot over a stain on the ugly carpet. "Why do you care?" Her words weren't harsh or condescending as they would have been previously and she cursed herself for allowing the broken tone to betray her emotions. She was barely holding it together, but Carol didn't need to know that.

Carol wasn't really in the mood for a pity party. "I care because it's distracting you from what's important. If you're focused on something other than the safety and survival of the group, then you'll get—."

"I'll what? Get someone killed?" Thea interrupted, eyebrows raised expectantly. "It's a little late for that, right?"

The RV suddenly lurched forward as Abraham, who was behind the wheel, slammed on the brakes. Thea and Carol were both sent flying into the walls on either side of the small room, the argument that had been brewing long forgotten. Thea scrambled to her feet and down the little hall with Carol fast behind her.

"What's going on?" Carol demanded as they rejoined the others.

Daryl was standing closest to them and was the first to respond. "Herd. We gotta turn around."

Thea could see the brakes lights of the car in front of them disappearing in a mass of walkers and her heart began to race. "What about the others? Can't we help them?"

"They're about twenty deep, there's no way we can follow without getting stuck." Abraham called from his seat as he maneuvered the RV around.

"We can't leave them!" Thea protested.

It was no use, Abraham had the RV turned around faster than should have been possible with the size of the vehicle and they were speeding back the direction they had come from. Thea moved to the back room again and pulled the blinds on the large back window, watching as the taillights of the car carrying their friends slowly grew smaller and smaller until they were out of sight.

 _Shit._

They had managed to find their way to Route 16 and turned around, heading north as Aaron had told them before Rick had decided to try Route 23. They were speeding down the empty road when a bright red light filled the night sky. Someone had shot a flare up in front of them and it could mean that Rick and the others had gotten out of the herd or it could be a signal from whoever had been with Aaron.

Maybe it was a trap to lure them in, but somehow Thea and Carol had both been adamant that they head towards it rather than away. The fact that the two women agreed on this must have been convincing enough for their foul-mouthed driver because he headed in that direction with very little protest.

* * *

Sometime later, after having found Aaron's colleague trapped under a car with walkers surrounding him, Thea found herself in the store room of an abandoned building with two men. The first was laying in front of her, his foot propped up in her hands as she examined his ankle. His name was Eric and he had been the one to fire the flare in hopes of alerting Aaron to the distress he was in.

The second was Daryl, who stood behind her somewhere with his crossbow as if the tiny and injured man could hurt her or had any intentions of hurting her. She found herself grateful for his concern, though.

"Well, I hate to tell you this, but your ankle is broken." She informed Eric in a gentle voice. She felt like a doctor again all of a sudden.

The man's eyes traveled down to his swollen and purple ankle with a disgusted sigh. "You're kidding."

Thea offered him a small smile. "I wish I was, but you are definitely looking at some broken bones here. I can wrap it for you with the stuff you have in your pack."

The bag Eric had been carrying had an incredibly well-stocked first aid kit that was apparently nothing compared to the infirmary they had in their community. Still, the first aid kit didn't offer much help with Eric's ankle except for an ACE bandage and some pain killers, and he would need to get better medical care back at the infirmary.

"You don't mind, do you? I feel like an idiot." Eric was responding lightheartedly. He seemed like a really nice guy, much like Aaron, and she hadn't felt any ill-will from him in the short amount of time that they had interacted.

Thea waved him off and reached forward to grab the roll of bandages to begin wrapping his foot. "I was a doctor, before all of this, so this feels really normal." She commented, trying her best to ignore the way Daryl huffed quietly behind her. He probably wasn't too keen on her spilling that kind of information since it had come back to bite her in the past with Gareth wanting to keep her on a leash for her medical prowess; doctors were valuable nowadays.

Eric didn't seem too fazed by the admission. "What kind of doctor? We have a surgeon back home who works wonders. He's mainly a pediatric surgeon though, but I guess babies are just smaller adults."

He was rambling, but at least it was a distraction for him as she wrapped up the injury. She smiled encouragingly as he spoke, letting him get it all out while she worked. He seemed like a very talkative person, a people-person, and she felt like it would be rude to stop him.

"I was a cardiothoracic surgeon. On adults." She informed him, adding the second part with a teasing smile that earned her a chuckle from the man. She didn't tell him that she had only just finished her internship and hadn't actually started on solo surgeries of her own because at this point it didn't matter. And she didn't want to seem like she was ill-equipped to be taking care of him.

He let out an impressed whistle. "Oh, fancy! Guess that makes you one smart cookie. And English too, you're a triple threat!" he complimented her, wincing as she tightened the wrap up.

"I think that's only two things." She teased him, securing the wrap with the small pin that had come in the package.

Eric scoffed. "Well, your beauty was implied, but if you must hear it then I am more than glad to remind you."

Thea laughed lightly. She liked him and she wasn't sure if that was a bad thing or not. If Rick got to their community and decided they should just move on, she shouldn't be making any friends or growing attachments to anyone. Another friend meant another person that could cause hurt if they were lost, and she wasn't in the mood for another loss.

"So, you and Aaron? You're _recruiters_?" She asked, quickly changing the subject.

A grin spread across Eric's face at the mention of the other man and she had an inkling that they were something more. He nodded his head in agreement before leaning forward slightly, placing on hand near the side of his mouth as if he were about to tell her an incredibly scandalous secret. "We're also lovers." He stage-whispered, grinning wolfishly over her shoulder at Daryl.

Thea couldn't help but laugh at him, her shoulders shaking with the action, and she turned to look back at Daryl to see how he was taking all of this. The archer stood with his arms crossed as he leaned back against the far wall. His eyes were fixed on them and when he saw her looking at him he scoffed at her, shaking his head. She could swear that there was a hint of a smile on that sour face of his, but she didn't want to push her luck by saying anything.

Shouting from outside stopped the conversation before it could escalate and Daryl scooped up his crossbow and moved towards the door quickly, ordering her to stay put as he passed. She didn't bother protesting, only stood and placed a hand on the knife strapped to her thigh just in case.

"Eric!" Aaron's voice came loudly through the building.

"In here!" Eric called back to him.

The worry in the first man's voice as he burst into the room was evident and Thea stepped back to make room for him as he rushed to the injured man's side. "Eric?" He asked, eyeing the bandaged foot warily.

"I'm okay." Eric was quick to reassure him. "It's like a volleyball injury. It's a broken ankle. At least that's what Thea says. I like her." He sent the doctor a wink before refocusing his attentions on the worried man at his side. "It's not a big deal. I'll just go to the infirmary when we get back."

"Oh…" Aaron said with relief before kissing Eric desperately, as if he had been so afraid he would never see him again. "When I saw the flare go up, I—I thought."

Thea averted her eyes to give them privacy, but for some reason couldn't bring herself to step out of the room. It was refreshing to see people who clearly loved each other so much.

"You were worried, were you?" Eric was teasing now.

Aaron sighed heavily, laughing just a little at the silliness of it all. "Yeah."

Eric was quick to jump into more teasing. "This is your fault, you know?"

"Is that so?"

"Because I love you. And because when I'm worried, I do stupid things. And when I do stupid things, I wind up underneath a rust bucket surrounded by roamers who roll a rear passenger tire onto my left ankle." They both chuckled. "Hey, something good came out of today."

Eric grabbed his pack and passed it to Aaron, indicating the front pouch. "While I was waiting for you, I searched through the neighborhood and I found that."

Aaron pulled a license plate out of the bag and sighed sadly.

"You lost the license plates." Eric didn't sound upset, his voice had a lightness to it.

"I lost the car." Aaron admitted sheepishly before they both laughed.

Thea wondered what the significance of the license plates were.

"Maybe it's for the best. That monstrosity out front can run. It's so ugly, it'll scare the roamers away." The three in the room laughed at the notion, if only it were that simple, and Thea noticed Rick in the doorway just about the same time Eric did. "Hi. I'm Eric."

"Rick."

"It's okay." Aaron said before standing and heading towards the door.

Thea offered Eric a friendly smile before following after him. The rest of the group was gathered around in the room outside the store room and she stood behind Rick, tuning her ear to the conversation. Aaron was talking about repaying the debt of rescuing Eric in full when they made it to his town, which was apparently called "Alexandria".

"Now, I'm not sure about you, but I'd rather not do anymore driving tonight. Maybe we can hit the road tomorrow morning." Aaron suggested.

Surprisingly, Rick agreed. "That sounds fine. But if we're staying here for the night you're sleeping over there." He pointed to the wall farthest from the room Eric was in.

"You really think we gotta do that?" Maggie asked in surprise.

Rick nodded. "It's the safe play. We don't know you."

The Alexandria recruiter wasn't having it this time. "The only way you're gonna stop me from being with him right now is by shooting me."

It wasn't a threat or anything malicious, but Rick seemed to take it that way and he straightened up in an attempt to intimidate Aaron into giving in. Aaron, however, was adamant on this and he stepped forward as if he were going to physically challenge the sheriff.

Glenn moved between them, putting his hands out. "Woah. Rick, he told us where the camp is. And he really was only traveling with one other person. They're both unarmed. One of them's got a broken ankle. I want us to be safe, too. I can't give up everything else. I know what I said, but it _does_ matter."

Glenn had a knack for inspirational speeches, and he also had a knack for convincing Rick.

The sheriff stepped back. "All right." He conceded, thankfully not ending the night in a fight.

* * *

The next morning, they found themselves on the road again. Rick, Michonne, Carl and Judith were in the car that had run over Eric while the others were packed into the RV once more. Abraham was driving, with Rosita in the seat beside him, and Carol and Daryl sat in the floor behind Rosita's seat. Tara, Maggie, Eugene, and Glenn were seated at the table playing cards, while Father Gabriel and Sasha were sulking on the floor in the kitchen. That left Thea and Noah to in the little hallway. They had let Eric take the bed so he could rest and Aaron had taken the bench in the back room, refusing to leave his side.

Thea reaching into the first aid kit in Eric's bag and pulled out the bottle of pain killers, offering them to Noah who was closest to the back room.

"Time for another dose?" he asked her, rising to his feet before taking the bottle.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, if he's awake give him some, but I was thinking that Aaron might need some for his wrists." She knew all too well that rope burn hurt like hell and she knew that Noah was aware of it too, if the scars around his own wrists were any indication of that. Her wrists were getting better, the rawest portions now barely noticeable scabs. She would have scars though, and that was just another sick reminder of the terror she had seen.

Noah nodded knowingly and turned, disappearing into the back room without another word. Thea traced her thumb over one of her wrists absentmindedly, eyes locked on the wall in front of her as she found herself hoping they would make it to Alexandria without any new problems.

* * *

It was like she had jinxed them or something. Thirty minutes after she had sent Noah back with the meds, the RV had broken down. Thea had wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. She was so tired of walking, but it looked like they may need to continue on foot. With the group outside in the sun trying to figure out what was wrong with the vehicle, Glenn claiming to have learned a bit about RVs from an old member of their group, she moved to the back to check on her patient.

Eric was still unconscious, something she was envious of, and she pulled the leg of his pants up gently to see how bad the swelling on his ankle was. It had gotten bigger and she sighed heavily, lowering the fabric back over the bandage.

"There's ice back home. We can put some on it when we get there." Aaron told her from his seat.

Her eyebrows raised in surprise and she turned to face him. "You guys have _ice_?"

Aaron chuckled. "And electricity. And running water. _Hot_ water."

The thought of a hot shower sounded so incredibly pleasing and Thea tried to think about the last time she had been able to wash up properly. Even at the prison they had only had cold water in the irrigation system they had made in the showers; she was pretty sure it had been since the outbreak that she'd had hot water to soothe her muscles.

"You're thinking about the shower, right?" Aaron asked, laughing lightly when she looked sheepish. "I understand. Every time I come back from one of these recruitment missions it's the first thing I think about. I can't imagine what the idea of a shower sounds like to you."

"It sounds a little like heaven." She replied quickly with her own laugh. She sat on the bench seat, her back against the wall so she could face him.

The smile on his face slowly faded away as he caught sight of her wrists and his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. "Guess we have more in common than we might have thought." He said, motioning towards her old injuries.

Thea glanced down for a moment before covering one of her wrists with her hand, as if it would make him forget he had seen them already. "Yeah…" She trailed off, unsure of what to say, but then it came to her. "There's a reason why Rick was so hesitant to trust you. What this group has been through," She shook her head. "You'd be a little skittish of strangers too."

He was watching her and his face, strangely, didn't hold an ounce of the pity that made her skin boil with anger. He seemed to understand, and she wondered if anything horrible ever happened to him when he was out recruiting. Did he ever run into the wrong people? Did he ever see things that he couldn't forget?

"I can't promise you that you'll never have to deal with people like that again, but I _can_ promise that you're safe in Alexandria."

She nodded. "I hope so."

The RV's engine roared to life and she sent a silent thank you to Glenn for managing to fix the problem; walking hadn't been something she was looking forward to at all. Standing, she peered down the hall to see if everyone was back inside yet; they were. Seconds later they were moving along the road once more, and she returned to her seat on the bench, resting her head back against the wall.

"We're almost there." Aaron reassured her.

* * *

Twenty minutes later they were pulling up to the front gates of Alexandria. Thea wanted to rush out the door, but she waited for Aaron's reassurance that he had Eric before following the others. When she stepped out of the RV and into the sunlight, she found herself face-to-face with large steel walls that ran the length of the lot and then circled around.

It was just as Aaron had described before Rick had punched the hell out of him. There was a gate made of steel bars pulled shut, a chain-link fence covered by tarp on the other side preventing them from seeing into the community. It looked like whoever had built the walls knew what they were doing.

As Thea took a second to stop and listen, she waited to hear nothing at all. Terminus had been so silent when they had walked in and she feared that Alexandria would be the same. Hearing nothing might be an indication of this being a bad idea, but she didn't hear _nothing_. She heard _something_.

Children were squealing and laughing on the other side of the walls. There were voices chattering lightly too and it felt like a real place where real people lived.

Thea's heart was thumping in her chest again, but this time it wasn't out of fear. Something inside her told her that this was _good_. That this was _right._

 _That they were safe._

* * *

 **A/N: The gang has arrived at Alexandria! And we got a great Daryl and Thea moment in this chapter that I hope you all enjoyed! As you could probably tell, I'm a huge fan of Aaron and Eric. I love them. And Thea will too. I hope you guys are ready for it! ;)**

 **I'm curious to know what you guys are most excited about with the group finally making it to Alexandria, so if you want to let me know if you review I'd love it! I'm so excited to finally get a chance to slow things down and get some real Daryl/Thea interactions, maybe that's what most of you are excited for too! :)**


	22. Que Sera, Sera

**A/N: Hello all! I wanted to wait until today to post the chapter so that maybe it would help ease some of the pain of the new episode last night. I am heartbroken and I know that some of you might be as well, so hopefully this will help a little. Also, if anyone wants to PM me they can! We can talk about the episode and maybe it will be therapeutic!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

The gates to Alexandria creaked as they slid open, slowly revealing the community to the group. Thea was standing to Daryl's right, having moved up to get a better view of what they were walking into. They were greeted by a clean neighborhood street that was lined on one side by the wall and on the other by several large houses. The kind of houses that Thea had remembered driving to look at with her sister when she was pregnant with Hank; Cat would joke about how one day she would find herself in one of these houses with her family and that Thea could live in the basement if she was still a single doctor by then.

Aaron, who had moved to the front of the group with Eric, was quick to help the man through and pass him off to someone on the other side before facing them again with a reassuring smile.

A sudden rattling from a nearby trash can startled the group and the metal bin tipped over as an opossum ran out from behind it. Daryl lifted his crossbow and shot the marsupial dead in one quick motion, reaching down to pick it up by its tail. He turned to the man who stood next to Aaron, having opened the gate the rest of the way, and held the critter up.

"We brought dinner."

Thea had to hold back a giggle by disguising it as a cough when the guy stared at the archer with a disgusted look on his face.

Aaron smirked. "It's okay. Come on in, guys."

The large group of survivors shuffled into the walled community slowly, a feeling of nervousness palpable in the air. One of the gates behind them, the barred one that still allowed them to see the world outside the walls, slide shut behind them with a clang that sounded strangely like a jail cell and Thea wasn't sure if it was sign of imprisonment or an indication that this would be a safe-haven like the prison had been.

The man with the curly hair spoke up. "Before we take this any further, I need you all to turn over your weapons. Stay, you hand them over."

Thea didn't particularly like the idea of giving up her axe, and the looks on the faces of all the others told her that they too weren't happy about it.

Rick stepped forward, Judith on his hip. "We don't know if we want to stay." He told the man.

"It's fine, Nicholas." Aaron was quick to interject before an argument could break out.

"If we were gonna use them, we would have started already." Rick added.

Thea resisted the urge to face palm. Saying things like that definitely would not help the situation one bit.

"Let them talk to Deanna first." Aaron continued, ignoring the awkward air that had developed.

From the back of the group, Abraham's voice boomed out. "Who's Deanna?" he demanded to know, asking exactly what the entire group was thinking.

"She knows everything you'd wanna know about this place." Aaron explained vaguely before turning to the sheriff. "Rick, why don't you start?"

Thea had a feeling that this was the part where they would be " _auditioning_ " for the right to be a part of this community and she felt a nervous flutter in her stomach. What if this Deanna woman decided that the group wasn't good enough for this place? Or worse, what if she decided that _she_ wasn't good for Alexandria and sent her packing all by herself. Would the entire group willingly give up the safety of this place if one of them was denied entry, or would they turn the other cheek and hope for the best?

"Sasha." Rick spoke up interrupting her thoughts.

Thea turned to see what he was referring to: a lone walker was stumbling beside the RV towards them. Sasha raised her rifle and shot it down in one swift motion as Nicholas began to close the second gate, a chain-link fence with a tarp secured to keep the community from being visible from the outside.

"It's a good thing we're here." Rick declared.

* * *

They were led to a small courtyard to wait as Rick was taken in to speak with Deanna first. No one spoke a word as they waited, almost like they thought that they could hear what Rick and Deanna were talking about if they were quiet enough. Or maybe they were just too afraid to speak out of fear that one wrong word would send them packing.

Thea found herself sitting in a metal patio chair with her leg bobbing nervously and her thumbnail between her teeth. She couldn't figure out what this Deanna woman would be asking them no matter how much she tried to and it scared her. What if she said the wrong thing or answered in a way that would cause Deanna to dislike her? She hadn't been this nervous since her oral exams that had allowed her to be a board-certified surgeon.

If the others were nervous, they did a much better job at hiding it than she did and it made her want to pull her hair out. How could they act so calm when their safety relied solely on their answers? How were they not completely and totally freaked out by the notion that they could be sent back into the open, walker infested world outside these walls? Were they so used to _that_ world that anything similar to the old world was something they could pass up on?

"Thea?" Aaron's voice interrupted her thoughts.

She snapped her head up from where she had been staring at ground in worry and found the recruiter standing at the base of the stairs that led up to the house they were meeting with Deanna in. Rick was walking over to stand near Carl and Michonne, having finished with his interview.

Evidently, Thea was next.

Heart thumping hard in her chest she rose to her feet and did her best to not trip on her way across the courtyard to the stairs. Actually going up the stairs was another feat entirely and when she was ushered through the door she felt glad that the group could no longer see her near panic.

The inside of the house was beautiful, one of those places that would get featured in magazines all the time and had probably been styled exactly from one. In her filthy, blood-covered clothes with sweat and grime built up on her skin she felt so very out of place.

"Make yourself at home. Deanna will be with you in a second." Aaron informed her, having led her into a living area. With that, he turned and exited the house once more to leave her with the lady in charge.

Thea's boots made dull thumping noises against the dark hardwood flooring as she moved between the coffee table and a chair that was set facing the room with its back to a ceiling-high bookshelf. She didn't know if she should sit down with all that covered her, the furniture was so clean she was afraid she would leave an imprint of her body on it. Glancing at the window, she spotted a dirty handprint on the white frame and stifled a snort…Rick didn't seem to care.

"Hello," a voice called out to her from the far side of the house where the living area turned into the dining area and then the kitchen.

Thea jumped and spun around in surprise, having not even heard Deanna enter the room. It was unsettling that she could move so quietly on the hard flooring.

Deanna was a short, older woman with collarbone length hair the color of wheat. She was small, but something about her said that she wasn't to be messed with; the fact that she was _in charge_ said something more.

"I'm Deanna Monroe." She introduced herself, moving forward until she stood behind the sofa.

Thea backed into the corner of the room where the two windows were out of instinct, keeping as much space as she could between the two of them. "Thea Ellis." She said after a moment, crossing her arms over her chest.

If Deanna was bothered by her behavior, she didn't act like it. Instead, she motioned to a camera which was docked on a tripod behind the sofa. "Do you mind if I record our talk?" she asked.

Thea eyed the camera nervously for a moment. Why did she need to record them? And if she said she _did_ mind, would the woman record anyway?

"Why?" she countered, resisting the urge to back up again until her back was against the wall.

The older woman sent her a soft smile and turned the camera on anyway. "We're all about transparency here." When the red light blinked on indicating that the device was on and working, Deanna moved to sit on the couch and crossed her legs, folding her hands over her knee casually.

The camera was pointed to the chair across from the couch and Thea decided she would stay where she was: out of sight.

"You look like you've been out there long." Deanna began.

Thea wondered if it was because of the grime and blood or the clear weight loss that had allowed the woman to come to that conclusion. Probably both.

She shrugged. "I've been on the road since the beginning." She commented, shifting on her sore feet and resisting the urge to move to the chair anyways.

Deanna nodded, unfazed by the doctor's behavior. "My family and I were brought here shortly after it started. I was a congressperson. Ohio, 15th district."

They had been behind these walls the _entire_ time? How had they managed to keep this place safe for so long? How have they managed to survive? These questions were only a few of the millions that began to race through Thea's mind.

"Aaron says you're a doctor. A surgeon." Deanna was continuing. "That must come in handy out there."

In the old world Thea had never been one for small talk. Sure, she knew how to do it because she was raised to be polite, but when she had gotten old enough to speak her mind she usually cut to the chase in a matter of seconds. She didn't see the point in bullshitting about nonsense when real things could be discussed. Now, with the world having changed so drastically, she felt her skin crawl at the idea of casual conversation with strangers.

She would humor Deanna for now, but it wouldn't be fun.

"I was." She confirmed, uncrossing her arms and moving to the mantle to peer at the knick-knacks placed there. "Cardiothoracic surgery was my specialty."

Deanna was watching her with eyes that seemed to bore into her soul as she ran her finger down the side of a tan urn, leaving a smear of dirt in her wake. It didn't look so out of place to her now with a bit of schmutz on it. Everything here was so _clean_.

The former congressperson let out a hum. "I'm impressed. What made you want to go into that field?"

Ignoring the question, Thea turned on her heel and motioned to the room around them. "How are you guys here? How is this _place_ here?" she wondered, her curiosity having gotten the better of her.

There was an amused glint in Deanna's eye at the evasion but she answered anyway. "This was a planned community with its own solar grid, cisterns, eco-based sewage filtrations, the works. When we got here there was no wall to protect us, so my husband, Reg, built it using what was left over from a nearby construction sight. It was going to be this huge shopping mall, but that didn't happen. In the end, it was a good thing they never finished."

It was impressive that they had managed to secure this place. Even more impressive that they had the luck to be put in this neighborhood for safety. Some people got away with so much luck in this new life that it blew Thea's mind. If her group had that much luck they would still be at the prison…they would still be intact.

Bowing her head at the reminder of Tyreese and Beth and Bob, Thea finally moved to sit in the chair she had been avoiding. She perched herself on the edge of it, her arms on her legs, and looked up at the camera over Deanna's shoulder as if it were going to jump out at her.

"You guys got lucky." She whispered, eyes fixed on the lens for a long few seconds before she looked away. Her gaze landed on the bowl of random trinkets on the table in front of her and she wondered who had decorated the place. She could _feel_ the woman's eyes on her.

Deanna was quiet for a long moment before uncrossing her legs and sitting forward exactly how Thea was. Her voice was softer when she spoke again. "You've been through a lot, I can tell." She said simply.

Thea let out a scoff and shook her head, hazel eyes finally meeting Deanna's bright blue ones. Her voice raised an octave. "You have no idea what we've been through. You've been behind these walls the entire time, _safe_ and living your lives as if nothing even happened. And while you've been in here, we've been _out there_ _**dying**_ over and over again—" Her voice cracked and she lifted a hand to press her knuckles against her mouth to silence herself. Her eyes remained locked on the other woman's despite the tears that were starting to blur her vision. Even as a few teardrops slid down her cheeks, she held her gaze.

Deanna swallowed slowly and then nodded her head. She looked shaken by the reaction she had gotten and she took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I truly am."

It didn't help to hear it, didn't take away the pain she still felt every single day from the losses she had experienced. Didn't extinguish the bitter fire of worthlessness that had been burning ever since that night in the library. Word were just words and no amount of saying or hearing them would ever fix her.

She stood again and moved back over to the window, this time peering out through the glass at all the houses the lined the block Deanna's house sat on. She could see a few people milling about like it was just another casual day in a normal world. People who had probably never even dreamed about the horrors she had seen and done.

"These people…they don't know what it's like out there. What the world is like, what the _people_ are like." She whispered, though whether she was speaking aloud to herself or to Deanna she wasn't sure.

She could hear Deanna rising to her feet behind her and moving to stand on the other side of the window frame. The older woman was eyeing her for a long minute before she finally spoke again.

"You're right, they don't. Maybe that's why your group belongs here. Maybe you are here to teach us what we are missing."

She spoke with such conviction that it had Thea believing that maybe she was right.

Maybe Alexandria needed to be on the receiving end of a rude awakening.

* * *

Sometime later they had finished with their interviews and somehow they had all passed. Deanna had come out onto the patio to tell them herself and a great relief had fallen over the group. That relief, however, was replaced with a feeling of anxiousness about fitting into this community and hoping and praying this would go well.

Terminus kept coming back to Thea's mind and sending shivers up her spine.

A woman named Olivia had come to them with a push cart and instructed them to place their guns on it for her to put away for 'safe keeping'. Thea felt herself feeling glad Olivia hadn't asked for their melee weapons; her axe and knives were staying with her.

"They're still your guns. You can check them out whenever you go beyond the wall. But inside here, we store them for safety." Deanna informed them from where she stood at the bottom of the stairs to her house.

Carol stepped forward and placed her hand gun down before awkwardly removing the rifle that was hanging over her shoulders. She was acting like it was too heavy for her to lift as she sat it down on top of the other guns in the bin with a large, closed-mouth smile.

For a moment Thea eyed her like she was out of her mind, but then she caught on to what Carol was doing and realized how genius the woman's plan was. She was clearly pretending to be less of a threat than she really was, like she was still a doting housewife and didn't know how to properly handle the weapon she had been holding. It was a good idea that allowed her to be invisible and Thea was envious of that.

They were given two houses, _two._ Thea had a hard time believing that they now had two houses to share and were no longer outside exposed to the elements. She was sure this was going to be a drastic change for all of them; she wasn't sure how she would handle being sheltered after so long of worrying about living to see the next day.

"Shower's all yours." Rick told her when she entered the large, three-story, blue house.

She was alone, having been sent on her way by Deanna while the older woman talked to the others. Thea felt like she had been shunned and she wondered what they were being told that she couldn't hear. Aaron had pointed her in the right direction of the houses and told her which one Rick and Carl had gone into.

She turned to glance at Rick and did a double take, eyes widening. "Woah." She said simply as she took in his clean-shaven face and cut hair. He looked like an entirely different person; she had never seen him without the beard. "You look good. Like…different, but good."

The sheriff sighed heavily and shook his head. "I forgot what my face looked like." He told her, rubbing his jaw hard.

Thea had a feeling she would get the shock of a lifetime when she looked in the mirror, too. Something told her she did not look anything like what she had looked like before the turn, she just hoped she didn't look absolutely terrible.

Rick pointed her in the right direction and she moved down the hall slowly. She had the urge to search the entire house for threats, but she knew that Rick had more than likely done that already and so it was pointless. Maybe she was just delaying the inevitable shock of seeing the woman she had become, maybe she was just being cautious. Either way, she couldn't wait any longer as she shut the bathroom door behind her and turned the lock.

She turned to look at the room first, eyes traveling over the clean toilet and large shower with glass walls and door. She could see where Rick had shaved in the sink, a few hairs he had missed when cleaning up still lingering on the pristine white porcelain bowl.

She inched closer to the center of the room until she was positioned right in front of the sink, but she kept her eyes down for the longest minute as her heart pounded in her chest. And then finally she looked up and had to take a step back at what she saw.

This _wasn't_ her. The woman staring back was _not_ her. At least not the person she once was.

Her cheeks were hollow, cheekbones more visible than they had been before. Her hair, which now fell to mid-neck, was a ratted mess that had her cringing at the idea of trying to work her fingers through it to wash it. Dirt, blood, and grime covered the skin of her face and neck and she wondered how Deanna hadn't revolted at the sight of her considering everything else in her life was so clean.

Most startling was her eyes. Hazel orbs that had once held so much life and promise and excitement for the future now stared back at her hauntingly. It was like her very soul had been drained from her body and all that was left was an empty shell of a person.

She couldn't look any longer and so she turned and opened the glass door of the shower, reaching in to turn the knob to start the water running. When it was the right temperature, nearly scorching hot, she reached up to pull her shirt off and was stopped by a knock on the door.

Her first instinct was to reach for her knife, but she quickly realized that it was more than likely Rick, and so she slowly moved to pull the door open just a crack. As suspected, Rick was standing on the other side and she opened the door just a bit more to view him fully.

"I brought you a change of clothes." He spoke up, pushing the folded items in his hands out for her. "They should be the right size; a woman lived here before…"

She took the clean clothes in her dirty hands and wondered what she would have done if he hadn't brought them. Would she have just put her dirty clothes back on and hoped for the best?

"Thanks." She said with a nod, waiting for his nod in return before shutting the door and locking it once more.

There was a full-length mirror on the back of the door that greeted her and she froze for a long moment just looking at herself from head-to-toe, still unable to recognize the woman in the reflection. She wondered how much her appearance had changed due to the living conditions and how much of it was due to the things that had happened to her, the things that had taken a toll on her soul.

Finally, she stepped away and set the clothes down on the closed toilet seat before slowly pulling her dirty garments off. She avoided the full length mirror this time, not wanting to see how emaciated she might look, and stepped into the steam-filled shower.

The hot water felt amazing on her skin and she stood still for the longest few minutes just allowing it to soak into her skin. She wanted to stay under the spray forever, but there was an entire group of people who would want to clean up and so she quickly began to wash for the first time in too long. It felt both abnormal and normal at the same time that she was able to shave her legs and under her arms and _feel_ like a living, breathing human being again.

When she was positive that she was as clean as she was going to get, she shut the water off and reached out to grab a towel to dry with. She didn't intend to look in the full-length mirror as she stepped out, but she did and she instantly regretted it.

The towel was short and she could see her legs from the mid-thigh down. They were thinner and her knees more prominent. Various cuts and scratches littered her skin from the knees down from where she had been caught up in the barbed wire fence.

Her collarbones stuck out so prominently it reminded her of the pictures she had seen in medical textbooks of people with anorexia or bulimia.

She was afraid to drop the towel and look at what the rest of her body looked like, so she turned away as she dressed in the underwear (she wondered if it had been awkward for Rick when he'd grabbed them for her), followed by the clean jeans and an army green blouse. It was all her size, but it felt odd to be wearing something like that again. She fastened the buttons up on the shirt and then rolled the sleeves up to the middle of her forearms, securing them in place with the buttons on the cuffs.

Stepping back to the sink, she opened the cabinets below and was surprised to see a hair dryer inside. Pulling it out, she unraveled the cord and then hesitated only for a second before plugging it in and switching it on. It shouldn't have surprised her that it worked, but she still jumped a little when it roared to life.

Mundane things like drying her hair had been long forgotten, but now it felt good to get back to reality just a little bit. Little things always came back somehow, and they always felt right.

* * *

Thea felt like an entirely different person by the time she stepped out of the bathroom. Her boots clunked on the floor and didn't go with her outfit so much anymore, but she didn't care. She made her way down the hall towards where she could hear voices, recognizing them. The group must have finally been let go by Deanna and come to see where they would be living.

Stepping into the kitchen, she tried to remain in the background, but it didn't work too well.

"How was the shower?" Carol asked her from where she was standing against the kitchen counter. She had cleaned up already, probably over at the other house or in another shower in this one, and was dressed in clean clothes of her own.

Thea couldn't help but smile just a tiny bit. "A little like heaven. It's the reflection in the mirror that bothered me."

Carol hummed in agreement but said no more and Thea moved out onto the porch where Daryl was sitting on the stairs gutting the opossum he had caught earlier. Rick stood by the railing with Judith on his hip as he watched the street, the little girl dressed in clean, pink clothes.

Daryl was still covered in grime, obviously having no intentions of bathing, and she watched as he pulled the opossum's insides out and plopped them on the steps casually before moving to lean against the railing with her arms crossed.

"Did you guys go over to the other house yet?" She asked Rick.

The ex-sheriff glanced over at the two-story house next door and shook his head. "No. I don't want us split up." He replied.

She didn't blame him for thinking that way, but at the same time she found herself thinking that just _checking the house out_ wouldn't technically be splitting up. Besides, they would be within shouting distance too. She was about to voice her opinion when Carl and Carol joined them on the wrap around porch and Carl asked about going to check out the other house.

Rick hesitated only for a moment, his eyes flicked in Thea's direction, and then he nodded. Carl was quick to scurry down the steps to the other home and Carol followed suit.

Thea wanted to join them but she didn't move, instead turning her head to watch them until they disappeared inside the other house.

"Thea," Rick's voice interrupted her thoughts and grabbed her attention. He stepped forward and held Judith out for her to take as Daryl stood from the steps and wiped his bloody hands on his pants.

She took the baby into her arms with a curious look, watching as the two men moved down the stairs and walked down the length of the grassy alley way between the two houses.

Old habits die hard. Old habits like securing the area multiple times despite knowing that there was a wall keeping the community safe. If Rick had to walk the length of the houses multiple times to ensure their safety, though, she wouldn't find herself complaining.

* * *

Rick decided that they would all be sleeping in the same house that night. As Thea rocked Judith on her hip in the living room watching the others set up their sleeping areas for the night, she was glad to have everyone within eyesight. She didn't want to be separated either.

Judith was asleep now and she turned to walk closer to the pack-n-play crib that had been placed by the window. A woman a few blocks over had been using it for her son but, per Aaron, she didn't need it anymore and had told him to give it to them.

Daryl was sitting next to the window on the other side of the crib and they locked eyes for a long moment as she stopped beside the little crib. She only broke the eye contact to lean down and place Judith down to sleep, covering her from the chest down with a thin blanket and then brushing some of her blonde hair off her little forehead affectionately. She had grown to care for the baby, much like she had grown to care for everyone in the group.

Her eyes flicked back up and found Daryl watching her still. As she opened her mouth to say something, a knock came at the door and startled the entire group to attention.

Rick moved to pull the door open and Deanna's small frame came into view. "Rick, I—wow." She cut off in stunned silence when she caught sight of the sheriff's clean-shaven face.

Rick groaned in exasperation, tired of the attention he had gotten from the new look.

"I didn't know what was under there." Deanna informed him good naturedly. "Listen, I don't want to interrupt. I just wanted to stop by and see how you were all settling." The woman's eyes moved around the room at the entire group stuffed in the living area and she paused. "Oh, my. Staying together. Smart."

"No one said we couldn't." Rick said.

Deanna shook her head. "You said you're a family. That's what you said. Absolutely amazing to me how people with completely different backgrounds and nothing in common can become that. Don't you think?"

Rick didn't answer, instead asking his own question. "Everybody said you gave them jobs?"

Thea frowned. She hadn't been given a job, even though it would be obvious to have her be another doctor for the community. The congresswoman hadn't spoken with her about it yet.

"Mmhmm, yeah. Part of this place." Deanna laughed. "Looks like the communists won after all."

Rick chuckled politely. "Well, you didn't give me one."

There was a glint in Deanna's eyes that might have been alarming on anyone else. "I have. I just haven't told you yet. Same with Michonne and Thea. I'm closing in on something for Sasha. And I'm just trying to figure Mr. Dixon out, but I _will_."

Thea begged to differ. Daryl was a mystery _she_ still hadn't solved yet and she doubted Deanna would be able to so soon after meeting him.

"You look good." Deanna added to Rick before leaving, throwing one last look at the man's face as she went.

* * *

Two days later, after doing some exploring of the community behind the walls the previous day and Deanna finally telling Thea she wanted her to be the town's second doctor, Thea found herself walking with Rosita towards the house that had been set up as a makeshift clinic. The other woman had also been assigned with medical duties and it was Thea's duty to teach her, along with the doctor that was already in the community.

The two women were walking slowly, not particularly keen on the idea of having _jobs_ again, and Thea felt like it was time for her to finally apologize to Rosita for the way she had treated her upon first meeting her. She had allowed her frustrations about getting captured by the Terminites get the better of her and now that she knew the Latina better, she regretted it.

"Hey, I feel like it's time that I tell you I'm sorry…for the way I was when we first met." She spoke up awkwardly, not sure where she was supposed to start.

Rosita frowned at her. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Thea returned the frown. "You know…I was kind of a bitch."

That earned a scoff. "Thea, we were trapped in a train car." Rosita defended her. "Besides, you were right about Eugene."

The reminder of the lie the mullet-haired man had told them seemed to upset Rosita and she felt bad for inadvertently bringing it up. "I still feel bad. For what I said, for how I treated you. We were in the same boat; I didn't get to have monopoly over being pissed about it."

Rosita sighed heavily. "Yeah, I wanted to smack you across the face at the time, but I get it now. And after everything Gareth did to you…" She trailed off as she noticed the way Thea tensed at the mention of the man. "It's forgotten, believe me."

The doctor nodded slowly, looking down at her feet. "I'm sorry about Washington. I know how much it meant to you to get there."

It was Rosita's turn to fall quiet. She didn't respond for a long while, and it wasn't until the house they were headed towards came into view that she spoke. "It sucks, but it's not the end of the world." She laughed at the saying and shook her head. "Well, it's not the end of _this_ world."

Thea had to agree with her. Even though Eugene had been lying, there was still the chance that someone else out there would _honestly_ know what to do about this mess. She just had to believe it, and it seemed the Rosita had to believe it too.

The two women stopped at the base of the stairs that would take them up to the porch of the house they were instructed to go to. Thea was feeling wary of the idea of meeting someone new, especially since she was going to have to work with him.

She only hoped that this _Pete Anderson_ guy was easy to get along with.

* * *

She hated him, _Pete_.

He was arrogant and made sexist comments to both Rosita and Thea throughout the day and she could not wait to get out of there. It was obvious by the look on Rosita's face that she too was anxious to leave and by the time they had walked out of the clinic together they had to fight their hardest not to run down the street full speed.

"Well, that guy is a creep." Rosita spoke up when they were about a block away from the clinic.

Thea sighed with relief and chuckled. "Yeah, I was about to say the same thing."

"Are you sure you're going to be able to work with that? I mean, with what happened to you?"

Thea tensed for a moment before trying to act like she didn't know what the other woman was referring to. "Just because I was kidnapped and left for dead, doesn't mean I can't work with assholes like that."

Rosita reached out and grabbed her by the arm, stopping her. "That wasn't what I was talking about, Thea, and you know it."

The doctor stiffened, eyes widened as she looked over at Rosita in shock. How had she figured it out? Was it that obvious that she was a victim? Was it written on her face in permanent marker?

"I'm a woman, I've had my fair share of inappropriate behavior thrown my way. And I've seen a lot of women who have had it worse. I figured it out a few days after we met."

She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say and in the end, she couldn't force any words out of her mouth. She crossed her arms over her chest and turned to continue walking towards their house. Rosita followed her silently and didn't speak again until they were on their block and could see the big blue house at the end.

"I didn't mean to upset you. I just want you to know that I know…and I'm looking out for you with Pete." Rosita reassured her in a quiet voice.

It was the nicest they had been to each other since they had met, but Thea felt that Rosita was being genuine. It felt nice to have another friend, too, and she sent her a grateful smile.

"Thanks, Rosita." She said slowly.

* * *

When they made it back to the house everyone else had returned from whatever they had been doing that day. Most the group had started their own 'jobs' and Thea was wondering how it had went for them, but she didn't speak up to ask. Or rather, she didn't get the chance to ask.

Rick came forward once the two women had returned from the clinic, evidently being the last ones to come back, and spoke up first. "I think we can sleep in the other house now, too. I think we're safe here, and if we're not then we'll still be within shouting distance."

Thea's eyes wandered over everyone in the room to see how they were taking this new development and she stopped when they landed on Daryl, who still hadn't showered and was leaning against the bookshelf in the corner with his arms crossed. She couldn't tell if he agreed with Rick's plan to separate or if he was just going along with it to keep from arguing with the sheriff. Either way, if Daryl was in then so was Thea. She found that she trusted his judgement more than she trusted most people's.

* * *

The bed was too soft. She had only slept a few hours and by the time morning had come around she had already been awake for quite some time. She rolled over and sat up on the full-size bed that had been deemed hers in the smaller of the two houses. Her room was on the second floor right next to Abraham and Rosita's. Daryl's was two doors down, and Maggie and Glenn had taken the master bedroom at the end of the hall.

She slipped out into the hallway and moved down the stairs slowly, not wanting to wake anyone else up. She decided that she would make some coffee for the group, have a mug for herself, and then get ready to go into the clinic with Rosita.

Thankfully, Pete had mentioned he had the day off to spend time with his wife and kids and she wouldn't have to deal with him.

When she stepped into the kitchen, she stopped short when she spotted Daryl leaning against the counter by the sink. He was cleaning up his crossbow with a hand towel and glanced up when she came into the room.

"You're up early." She commented, moving around the island countertop to the corner where the coffee machine was perched.

"So are you." He grumbled, eyes following her movement.

She shrugged her shoulders and pulled the coffee maker closer to her so she could open the lid and stuff a filter inside before reaching for the coffee grounds. "Couldn't sleep." She said simply, scooping some grounds out and putting them in the filter.

Daryl hummed in response and turned his attention back to his crossbow. It wasn't clear if he just didn't care or if he too was no fan of small talk.

Pulling the pot off the maker, she stepped over to the sink to fill it up to the 12-cup line. Daryl was standing so close to the sink that their arms brushed as she filled the pot and she looked up at him. He looked about as tired as she felt and she wondered if he had even slept at all. She looked over the dirt on his skin and had to bite her tongue to keep from asking him when exactly he planned on showering.

"What do you think of this place?" She asked suddenly, shutting the water off but remaining by the sink and staring at him with a questioning look.

It took him a moment to respond, but finally he sighed. "I think...maybe we could be somethin' here." he answered vaguely.

Thea sighed and turned to return the coffee pot to the maker. She poured the water in the back section before placing the pot in its place and pressing the brew button. She turned back to face Daryl, resting against the counter next to the coffee maker and crossing her arms.

"So you trust these people?" She wondered, the creepy smile Pete had given Rosita and herself upon meeting them crossed her mind.

"Trust ain't got nothing to do with it." Daryl told her. "We gotta stay here, for Carl and Judith. They gotta have a place."

She nodded in agreement. The kids deserved somewhere to grow up, somewhere without walkers at every turn. It wasn't difficult to see that Carl had started to be out there too long, that Judith could easily be out there too long as well.

"Besides, not everyone here is bad." Daryl continued with a shrug.

She agreed again. Aaron and Eric were good people, she liked them already, and she had a feeling that the others in the neighborhood, while naïve about the way this world was now, weren't as bad as Pete had shown himself to be. Still, she was wary about the idea of having to live with so many strangers.

"You alright?" Daryl asked when she didn't respond.

Her eyes, which had been trained on the floor, flickered up to meet his again and she shrugged one shoulder. "I'm fine." She lied.

He didn't believe her for a second and thankfully the coffee maker beeped to alert her that the coffee was done before he could respond. She turned to pull a mug out of the cupboard and filled it quickly, her back to the man in the room so she wouldn't have to see him watching her.

As she brought the mug to her lips, a knock came at the door. She snapped her head around, glancing at Daryl before moving slowly across the room, mug still in hand, to peek through the curtains on the door to see who could be here at this hour.

It was Aaron and she felt only a moment of relief as she pulled the door open.

"Morning," the man said with a friendly smile. "Sorry to bother you so early, I just came to fill you guys in on the plan for tonight."

Thea frowned in curiosity but stepped aside to allow him into the house. He glanced around, eyes stopping on Daryl in the kitchen, and then he turned to her.

"Deanna is hosting a welcome party for your group tonight. You're all invited and, in her words, attendance is mandatory but not enforced." Aaron explained.

Over his shoulder, Daryl's face was scrunching up in a look of pure disgust at the idea of a _party_ where he would have to mingle. Thea had to lift her mug up and pretend to take a sip of her coffee to hide the grin that spread across her face.

Aaron still caught on though and he glanced between the two of them with a chuckle. "I know, it probably sounds like something far from fun, but I think you should go. Introduce yourselves to the neighbors and show them you aren't as scary as you looked when you showed up covered in blood."

Thea cleared her throat. "Yeah, okay, we'll be there. Right, Daryl?"

The archer snorted from the kitchen and sent her a glare, to which she laughed lightly.

"Alright, so I can't speak for Daryl, but _I_ will be there after my shift at the clinic." She assured Aaron with a smile. She liked him; he had never shown any ill-will towards her or any of the others and he was fiercely loyal to his people, to Eric. He was the kind of person she would have been friends with back in the old world, the kind of person she was lucky to have run into in the new world.

The recruiter nodded and grinned at her. "Great! Can you pass the message along to the others?"

Thea nodded in agreement and Aaron bid them a goodbye before leaving. She shut and locked the door behind him and turned back to the kitchen to face Daryl in hopes of convincing him to join the group at the party, but he had already disappeared out of sight.

* * *

"I don't know, Rosita, are you sure this isn't too much?" Thea asked as she stood in front of the mirror and examined the outfit Rosita had picked out for her.

The two had finished their shift at the clinic and were back at the two-story house they shared with some of the others. Abraham, who was grumpily waiting for them downstairs, was already ready to go. Rosita had decided the two women needed to dress up and make a good first impression, which wasn't going well for the doctor.

Rosita finished securing her hoop earring and turned to face her. "You look fine, Thea, I promise."

Thea's eyes turned back to the mirror and she looked herself over once more. The dress Rosita had forced her into was a bright floral print. The top half was form fitting until it reached her waist, where the skirt began to flow out, ending at her knees wide like the bottom of a lamp shade. With it, Rosita had paired a pair of wedge heels and then she'd added slight waves to the doctor's short hairdo to "change up her look".

In the old world, she would have loved the look and the attention it drew, but now she was in no way excited about it. Her plan had been to show up at the party and remain safely hidden in the background. With what she was wearing, however, she didn't think that she could do that. Rosita was adamant that she wear it though, and Thea felt like she owed it to her to comply.

"Okay, fine. You win." She gave in, crossing her arms over her chest and frowning at the other woman.

Rosita's face lit up in a wide smile and she swiped the gray cardigan she was planning to wear with her black dress and slipped it over her shoulders. "Great, let's get going before Abraham drags us out the door."

Thea sighed heavily and followed her out of the room and down the stairs. It didn't take long for the three of them to walk to Deanna's house and when they stepped inside they lingered awkwardly in the hallway between the stairs and the living area where the interviews had been held. It didn't look like everyone in the community had arrived yet, but there were still quite a few people milling about and chatting.

It made Thea nervous.

"I don't know about this." Abraham spoke up, voicing her thoughts.

Rosita shrugged her shoulders. "They have beer." She told him.

The redheaded man nodded his head slowly and started to walk further into the room towards the table where the drinks were displayed. "Imma try."

Thea and Rosita exchanged a look, shaking their heads as they chuckled and then followed after him. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad with a little liquid courage. It might dull the awkwardness of speaking with strangers who knew little of the world outside the walls. People who were probably judging her before they could even get to know her.

* * *

She had been here two hours too long. It was dark out now and she kept glancing at the door waiting for Deanna's son Spencer to move away from it so she could make a break for it. She was so incredibly uncomfortable with the small talk and sharing the story of how she decided to become a doctor a billion times over. Worst of all, Pete was here with his family and she had caught him eyeballing her and Rosita more times than would be considered normal.

She just wanted to leave.

"Thea, right?" a woman's voice broke through her anxious haze. A dark-skinned woman in her early forties was standing before her with a broad grin on her face.

Thea nodded her head, but couldn't bring herself to smile in return.

The woman didn't bother introducing herself as she spoke again. "What's your favorite meal? I'm going to cook for all the newcomers."

"Um…" Thea trailed off as she tried to think of something quickly enough to get this woman out of her hair. Before she could figure it out, however, the woman was continuing.

"I know you're English. I'm sure I could whip up some fish and chips." she tried to make a joke out of it by putting on an over-the-top version of an English accent on the last three words, laughing at herself in the process.

Thea's eyebrows raised in surprise at the stereotype. "Oh, really? Is there an _abundance_ of fish and French fries around here that I'm not aware of?" she asked, unable to keep her irritation from showing in her voice.

The woman blinked in surprise and took a step back. She glanced around at the other women that were standing nearby and watching them, letting out an awkward laugh as she tried to make it seem like she wasn't the one in the wrong here. "It was just a suggestion. I didn't mean to offend you."

Thea never did like the rich older women like these ones. She had run into a lot of them in her time at the hospital and during school and they had always been condescending, always made themselves out to be the victims. This woman appeared to be no exception.

"I'm sure you didn't." Thea replied with a scowl before brushing past the woman and heading straight for the door. She was officially done and she didn't care who saw her leave. She hadn't had nearly enough alcohol to deal with this shit.

As she pulled open the door and slipped out onto the porch, she felt an instant relief to escape the party and the people. She shut the door quietly behind her and turned to move down the stairs, freezing when she spotted a figure moving out from the trees.

Had a walker made it inside the walls somehow and come to strike when they least expected it?

As the figure came further into the moonlight she breathed a sigh of relief to find it was only Daryl. He was dressed in dark jeans and a long-sleeved shirt with his vest over it, and it appeared that he had showered. He must have been working up the courage to go inside, but evidently he'd given up and decided to just go home.

"Daryl." She called out to him as she rushed down the steps. She didn't want to walk home alone; he was here at the right moment.

The archer stopped and turned her way, eyes traveling over the outfit she wore before finally returning to her face. "If you're here to make me go to that party, you can save it." He grumbled at her, motioning towards Deanna's house.

Thea let out a scoff and shook her head, moving down the sidewalk towards him. "No, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I was just leaving."

He waited for her to catch up to him before replying. "Thought you were into that sort of thing?" He asked, squinting at her in the dark.

She stopped on the sidewalk in front of him, crossed her arms over her chest, and raised an eyebrow at him, a teasing smile turning up one corner of her mouth. "What makes you think that?"

Daryl shrugged one shoulder and chewed on his bottom lip, turning on his heel and continuing down the street towards their houses without a word.

She wasn't sure if he had felt uncomfortable with their proximity or if he hadn't realized that she was teasing him. Or maybe he just didn't want to answer her question at all. Either way she wasn't about to let him off the hook that easily. She followed him, trying her best to keep up with his pace in her heels, not use to them after so long of not wearing them.

"Daryl. What makes you think that?" She asked as she caught up to him. She stepped off the sidewalk and onto the street so they could walk side-by-side.

He shrugged again. "I don't know. You just seem like the type of girl who likes those kinds of parties."

Thea rolled her eyes. "And what type of girl is that, Daryl?"

He didn't reply for a long while. It was almost like he didn't _want_ to tell her what type of girl he thought she was and she wondered if she would be offended by his answer when he eventually gave it. Did he think she was uptight like those forty-something women she hated?

Finally, the answer came and it wasn't what she expected. He spoke so quietly that she almost didn't hear it, but she did and it made her freeze on the spot in surprise. She wasn't sure if he meant offense by it or if she was supposed to feel complimented. She didn't know what to say. Was that _all_ he thought of her, or was that one way he saw her?

When he realized she had stopped he did too, turning to face her. There was a look in his eyes like he was regretting answering her, but there was no coming back from it now. It was out there and it wasn't going away anytime soon.

As she opened her mouth to respond, the porch light on the house they were stopped in front of flicked on and Aaron stepped out onto the porch.

"Daryl, Thea, hey!" He exclaimed, waving at them.

Daryl pointed in the direction of Deanna's house with a glare. "Thought you were going to that party over there."

Aaron laughed. "Oh, I was never going to go cause of Eric's ankle, thank god."

"Why the hell did you tell me to go, then?" Daryl asked, frustrated.

"I said try. You did. It's a…thought that counts thing."

Daryl started moving down the street again. "All right."

Aaron stepped closer to the edge of the porch. "Hey, you guys come in. Have some dinner." He suggested with a friendly smile. When Daryl stopped and stared at him, he chuckled. "Come on, man. It's some pretty serious spaghetti." He stepped back into his house and left the door open without another word.

Thea, who was still reeling from what Daryl had said, turned and shrugged at the archer before heading up the sidewalk and the stairs to enter the house. She could hear Daryl reluctantly following behind her.

"Thea!" Eric's shouted as he spotted her. He was sitting at the dining room table waiting, an empty plate in front of him along with a glass of wine. There was a large bowl of spaghetti in the center of the table and Aaron was placing two more plates and down for them to sit as well.

Thea couldn't help but grin at the excitement he displayed at seeing her. "Hey! How's your ankle?" She asked.

He waved her off. "Oh this old thing? It's still broken, but I won't let it stop me!"

Aaron stood behind the chair diagonal to Eric's and motioned for Daryl and Thea to sit. "Please, have a seat. I'll pour you some wine." He said as he grabbed the bottle off the table and proceeded to begin to pour it into the new glasses he'd added.

Thea sat in the chair next to Aaron's, across from Eric, and Daryl awkwardly sat beside Eric. He didn't look like he knew how to fit in with the people in the room and she sent him a small, reassuring smile in the hope that it would make him feel less awkward. He held her gaze for only a moment before his eyes fell to his plate, where Aaron was now placing a large helping of spaghetti.

"You look stunning tonight, Thea. Were you at Deanna's party?" Eric drew her attention away from the archer.

Her mind went back to the older woman and _fish and chips_ and she had to force down a scoff. "Thank you. I went for a little bit but it wasn't really my thing." She answered, glancing in Daryl's direction only for a moment as she said the last part.

Eric seemed to agree with her though. "Aaron and I look for every excuse not to go to those things. The way some of those people look at us…" He trailed off with a shake of his head and picked up his fork to take a bite.

Thea hadn't noticed that Aaron had already put some spaghetti on her plate. She picked up here fork as well and twirled a large amount of the pasta onto it before stuffing it into her mouth. As she chewed, she hummed in approval, earning a chuckle from both Eric and Aaron. Once she swallowed, she dabbed at her mouth with the napkin her fork had been resting on.

"This is delicious. It's been a really long time since I had spaghetti." She complimented the two men, unsure which one of them had cooked it but appreciative that they had opened their door to her.

After that they all ate in silence, devouring their plates and draining their glasses of wine. It felt totally normal that they weren't talking, like they didn't feel the need to fill the silences with small talk. Thea was glad for the silence, especially after the anxiety she had felt at the party earlier.

A slurping interrupted her as she took the last bite of her meal. Daryl had scooped up the last of the spaghetti on his plate and had slurped the noodles down messily, wiping his mouth on his sleeve and then, upon noticing the others watching him in amusement, picked up the cloth napkin to use instead.

"Thanks." He said with his mouth full as he picked up his wine glass to wash down the bite.

Thea lifted her own glass and drank the last of it to hide her amusement.

"Mm, when you're out there, if you happen to be in a store or something, Mrs. Neudermyer is _really_ looking for a pasta maker," Eric began, turning to face Daryl. "And we're all _really_ trying to get her to shut up about it. I mean, we have crates of dried pasta in here, but she wants to make her own or something. I really think she just wants something to talk about, so…if you see one out on your travels it would go a long way to…"

He trailed off as his eyes found Aaron's. The latter looked at his partner with raised eyebrows as if to say 'shut up' and it had the former looking sheepish.

"I thought it was done. You didn't ask him already?"

Aaron shook his head slowly, earning confused looks from both Daryl and Thea.

"Ask me what?" Daryl asked, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

Aaron placed his napkin on his plate and pushed his chair back. "Why don't I show you?"

Reluctantly, Daryl stood as well and followed Aaron down the hall before disappearing through a door. Thea stared after them curiously and it wasn't until she heard the clinking of the wine bottle on her glass that she turned back to Eric. He was refilling her glass, nearly to the brim, before doing the same with his own, an awkward chuckle leaving his lips.

"Oops." He said, setting the bottle back on the table.

"What was that about?" She wondered aloud as she took another drink of wine.

Eric guzzled down a few sips of his own before responding. "Aaron is going to ask Daryl to be a recruiter with him. He doesn't want me going outside the walls anymore after what happened."

Thea didn't particularly like the idea of Daryl going outside the walls either, but she knew that he was more than capable of taking care of himself. More capable than Eric was, that much was obvious. And that in no way meant Eric was weak, but Daryl seemed to be able to do things that no one else could. If anyone was safe out there, it was him.

"You don't seem too happy about that." Eric observed when she didn't respond.

Thea took a large gulp of her wine. "I'm not thrilled about the idea of him going out there so often, but I know he can handle himself."

Eric was watching her curiously. "You care about him."

It wasn't a question and Thea stared back for a long moment before shrugging. "I care about everyone in my group. We're family." She replied before finishing her drink.

He smiled at her but didn't say anything further. It confused her but she didn't continue the line of conversation, instead choosing to refill her glass. She didn't want to think about the look he was giving her or what type of girl Daryl thought she was.

What she _did_ want to do was help Eric finish this bottle of wine.

* * *

By the time Daryl and Aaron returned, Eric and Thea had moved to the couch in the living room and were working on a second bottle of wine. The two of them were laughing about the older woman and _fish and chip_ when the other men came back and gave them confused looks.

"A-Aaron! Mrs. Mitchell asked Thea if her favorite food was fish and chips!" Eric exclaimed, sending the inebriated duo into giggles once more.

Aaron chuckled but quickly plucked the bottle off the table before his partner could reach it to refill his glass. "I see you two had a little party while we were away." He didn't sound mad, on the contrary he was amused by them.

Daryl, however, was staring at them with that squinting gaze of his that always confused her.

Eric laughed and stood up. "We did, but I think it's probably time to stop before we go overboard."

"Aww." Thea whined. She didn't want to stop drinking, she felt good drunk, but she knew that was a cue to leave and so she shakily got to her feet. "Thank you guys for dinner. And for the wine." She said, as she moved towards the door.

Aaron was holding Eric up as he turned to wave at them. "Of course, anytime! We're happy to have you guys." He said genuinely.

Thea waved with a large grin and opened the front door, listening as Daryl followed behind her and shut the door. As she moved to go down the stairs, she gripped the railing tightly as she stumbled down the first step.

Daryl was beside her then, gripping her arm and helping her down the stairs slowly.

"Sorry," she apologized sheepishly. "I guess I can't handle my liquor like I could before the world ended."

He shook his head once but didn't reply. It didn't seem like he was mad at her or anything, but she couldn't quite place the look on his face as he put her arm around his shoulders and wrapped his around her waist to support her.

They were back on the street towards the two houses now and she could see the smaller one that the two of them shared with a few of the others getting closer and closer. She suddenly felt tired and began to regret drinking so much.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked him suddenly before she could stop herself, turning her face so that she could watch him and try to gauge his reaction.

If he _was_ mad he didn't let it show on his face. In fact, he looked confused as he helped her up the steps to the house. "I ain't mad." He said simply.

Getting her up the stairs to her room was quite the feat. She could hardly walk in her wedges now that she was feeling the wine, but she didn't say a word to him about it. He was surprisingly patient with her and by the time they finally reached her room she began to wonder if he was some kind of redneck saint suddenly.

"Lay down." He instructed, lightly pushing her in the direction of her bed.

Though the push wasn't quite a shove, she stumbled forward and fell face first onto the bed with a giggle. When she heard him snort behind her she rolled onto her side and sighed heavily, attempting to sit up so she could take her shoes off.

"I gotta take my shoes off." She explained when he huffed in annoyance.

In a shocking move, he came forward and grabbed one of her ankles. His grip wasn't rough, but he wasn't exactly gentle either as he undid the strap on one of the wedges and pulled the shoe off her foot before moving on to the other one. Once her shoes were off she laid back on the bed and pulled the duvet over her body.

"Thanks, Daryl." She said as she pulled the blankets up to her nose and closed her eyes.

He grunted in response and a few seconds later she heard the door click closed behind him. As she laid there letting her mind wander as she attempted to fall asleep, her last thoughts were of how Daryl had described her.

" _And what type of girl is that, Daryl?" she had asked._

 _His response had been quiet. "Pretty ones."_

* * *

 **A/N: I know, I know. Totally cliché to have him help her home and take her shoes off for her, but I thought it might be just enough fluff to help soothe you just a little. I know the season premiere was extremely difficult to get through, my heart hurts and it's going to hurt to write Glenn and Abraham for however long it takes this story to reach episode 7x01. I promise I'll do them justice for the rest of the time they are in this story. Also, next chapter you guys have a big (and good) surprise coming, so get ready!**

 ****VERY IMPORTANT** I just want to let you guys know that I started orientation for a very important and exciting new job last week and I don't know how much time I will have for writing in the coming weeks. The first part of my orientation is 3 weeks of the 8-4:30 schedule and then after that I have to fly to Georgia for two full weeks of training. When I get back from Georgia, I have to do 4 weeks of full time on the job training. I'm going to try my hardest to write when I can but I just wanted to give you guys a heads up. Chapters might come sparsely, but I am hoping that I can keep giving you updates as I train.**

 **So just bear with me for how long this training takes and then it will be back to normal, I promise! :)**


	23. Deja Vu

**A/N: Hello all! I know it's been a long wait, but I am back with an update for you guys in time for the holidays! I've been going through a ton with the new job, so I apologize for the long wait. This chapter has a nice little surprise for you to make up for the months without updates. Enjoy! :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

 _Something sharp was digging painfully into her left shoulder. She shifted her weight in hopes of relieving the pressure but it only dug in further, eliciting a cry of pain. Her head was throbbing something awful and she couldn't feel her left leg. Something wet was dripping across her right cheekbone, over the bridge of her nose, and onto the left side of her face beneath her eye._

" _Ow, shit." She muttered under her breath as she shifted her shoulder against the sharp edge._

 _She remained still for a long moment and let the pain soak in before a stark realization hit her. She gasped, eyes flying open in a panic, and her head throbbed worse from the sunlight streaming in through the cracked windshield._

 _Her heart was suddenly racing in her chest as she took in her surroundings. The car was resting on its left side, where it must have landed when it had finally stopped rolling. The driver's side window was completely shattered; her shoulder was planted right on top of the glass shards from it._

 _She attempted to crane her head to view the backseat but the movement sent the material of the still secured seat belt burning across the skin of her neck and so first she had to reach down and unbuckle it. Once she had better movement she reached an arm out and gripped the headrest of the passenger seat to pull herself into an upright position, whimpering in pain but gritting her teeth through it so she could peer into the backseat._

" _No, no, no, no." She muttered to herself frantically when she found the car was empty except for herself._

 _A sudden crunching noise from outside the car had her freezing and she tried to quiet her breathing so she could listen more clearly for whatever was coming for her. Had a geek heard the crash and come to eat those who had lived through the terror?_

 _She waited for several long and agonizing seconds before a pair of boots came into view through the windshield. Her heart was going to explode out of her chest if it beat any faster and she reached down to pull the small knife she'd found not long ago out of her right boot, and gripped the handle tightly as she prepared for the worst._

" _Are you okay?" A voice asked instead. A man crouched down in front of the windshield to peer in at her._

 _The concern in his face seemed genuine._

 _She watched him for a long moment in case he wasn't actually here to help, but then eventually she blinked. Turning back to glance in the backseat, she spoke up. "Where is-?"_

 _The man cut her off quickly, a hand raised with the palm out. "Safe, I promise. Now, I just want to get you out of there. We thought you might not have made it." He paused to glance behind him. "Can you move?"_

 _She hesitated only for a moment, feeling a tiny bit of relief that her passenger was safe for the moment, before answering honestly, deciding that she had no other options._

" _M-My leg. I think it might be broken."_

 _The man nodded and then stood, she heard him shout to someone that he needed help and a second later another man joined him, this one smaller. The first man crouched down again and smiled in reassurance. "I'm Aaron, and this is Eric. We're gonna get you out of there, don't worry." He said earnestly._

* * *

 _She walked into the far corner of the library where she had seen medical textbooks on her previous visit and pulled a large volume from the chin high shelf. It was gross anatomy and she smiled to herself as she remembered a time when she was up late at the library on campus cramming for classes and downing coffee like it was a lifesaving drug._

 _The moonlight came through the windows enough for her to see the book without her flashlight and so she turned it off and set it on the top of the shelf. As she opened the book she heard a low creak from the doorway and froze, her eyes snapping up to scan the library for anyone or anything that had followed her in, but there was nothing._

 _Thea was suddenly sick to her stomach, a feeling of dread filling her as she stared in anticipation of a threat. The room had somehow grown so incredibly dark despite the windows and the moon and it made her heart speed up in fear._

 _Setting the book next to her flashlight, she pulled her knife and rounded the shelf to head towards the front end of the small library._

 _She didn't see anything as she moved slowly through the shelves with her knife poised at the ready. But she had been certain she'd heard the door creak and it couldn't have been in her head, could it?_

 _Just as she was about to laugh it off and chastise herself for being so jumpy, something slammed into her back_ hard.

* * *

Thea sucked in a large gulp of air and shot forward in bed. Before she could move, the contents of her stomach came up her throat. She attempted to cover her mouth, but only ended up upchucking into her own hand, a small amount landing on the sheet covering her lap.

"Jesus Christ." She breathed out harshly, using a shaking hand pull the sheet off her sweaty frame so she could rise to her feet and rush into the bathroom across the hall.

She washed her hands quickly and then gripped both sides of the porcelain sink bowl and closed her eyes to calm herself. She hadn't dreamed about that night since she'd been at the prison, her life had gotten more terrifying and stressful since fleeing it that her mind hadn't had a moment to settle on the memory of that night.

Rubbing a shaking hand across her face, she glanced up at the mirror at her reflection and couldn't help but scowl at what she saw there: a broken woman.

Shaking her head, she turned and locked the door before moving to start the shower running, making sure the water was so hot that the room filled with steam quickly, the glass shower walls and mirror fogged over and she was grateful she could no longer see her reflection as she stripped down and then stepped into the shower.

The water burned her skin red but she didn't care and she stood under the spray motionlessly, her eyes falling closed as she tried to picture something other than the nightmare that had forced her awake. Unfortunately, that only made it more prominent in her mind and before long she found herself remembering little details like how Josh's hands had gripped her arms so tightly she could feel the bruises forming. Hoyt's hands on her hips, his laughs, his breath in her ear...

Her stomach lurched again and although she managed to keep from vomiting, she still threw a hand over her mouth and turned, pressing her forehead against the cool tile of the shower wall and squeezing her eyes shut. Her shoulders shook and she found herself hoping and praying she could keep her crying silent so none of the others in the house would hear her.

And she just stood there, hot water streaming down her back and face against the tiles as she wept. A memory she would never forget coursing through her mind.

* * *

When she finally made it downstairs, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, Rosita smiled at her from behind a coffee mug and cleared her throat before swallowing.

"I thought you fell asleep in there," She commented, referring to the long shower the doctor had taken. "The drinks at Deanna's party hit you too hard?"

Thea offered her a tired smile and nodded, pushing her traumatic memories to the back of her mind in favor of the friendly conversation. "It's been a long time since I had wine…and I think Eric may have had a heavy hand."

Rosita frowned. "Eric? I didn't see him there last night."

The doctor moved to the coffee pot and pulled out a mug from the cabinet, pouring a glass and bringing it up to her lips to taste before she responded. "Oh, he wasn't. I ran into Daryl after I left and we ended up eating dinner with Aaron and Eric."

A mischievous glint filled the other woman's eyes and she stepped closer, her voice dropping into a whisper as she grinned. "Like, a double date?" she asked.

Thea managed to swallow her gulp of coffee without choking and scoffed. She didn't offer any response, instead draining half her cup and then filling it back up.

"I take your silence as confirmation." Rosita stated smugly.

Thea turned and, despite her displeasure at the idea of anything romantic after the nightmares the night before, returned the smile with a smaller one of her own. Rosita had the kind of smile that was infectious and it was difficult to resist smiling back. "Rosita, I _definitely_ didn't go on a double date last night. And I definitely haven't had enough coffee to have this conversation with you, so I'm just going to go over and see what the others are up to. You coming?"

The Latina sighed defeatedly and the two women managed to make their way next door to the bigger, blue house. They found the others gathered around the living room and kitchen, where Thea perched herself at the island and set her coffee mug down on the marble countertop.

"Morning." Rick drawled as he came into the kitchen with Judith perched on his hip. He moved straight for the mug Carol was holding out to him and Thea wondered how many mornings they had done it that they had created a routine.

Rosita was sitting beside her and smirking. "Looks like someone had a little too much to drink last night, too." She teased, winking in Thea's direction.

The ex-sheriff shook his head with a chuckle, bringing his mug to his lips to take a drink before responding. "It's been a while." He said simply.

Thea couldn't help but nod in agreement. Her head was still hurting despite the coffee, but she wasn't sure if it was the drinks or the nightmares…maybe a little of both. She took two large gulps of her coffee before a knock at the front door startled her enough that she spilled some of the hot liquid down the front of her t-shirt.

"Shit." She hissed in surprised, pulling the black fabric out so it wouldn't cling to her skin and standing quickly.

As the others moved to see who had come knocking, Thea dabbed at the front of her shirt with a paper towel until she was sure as much as the coffee that was going to come out was out. Thankfully the shirt was dark enough that she didn't need to change it, she would simply smell like coffee for the rest of the day which wasn't too bad; it was better than smelling like death.

Grabbing her mug, she started towards the living room to join the others.

"—She's the one who gave you the crib, actually. I thought that I could bring her by to introduce you guys." Aaron was introducing someone.

A familiar voice spoke up. "My son is too big for it now, so when I heard you guys had a baby with you, I knew it would be of use."

Thea felt her heartrate skyrocket and her eyes widen as the newcomer spoke. She _knew_ that voice. She stepped further into the room, her eyes landed on the blonde standing beside Aaron, and she barely registered when the coffee mug slipped from her hand and shattered upon impact with the hard floor.

All eyes were on her, but she could only stare in shock at the person standing a few feet from her. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Was it real? Was she still dreaming? Would it be ripped away from her in a few moments?

"Thea?" Catherine asked as her face filled with surprise as well. The blonde woman had stopped talking to Rick and now stared back at her older sister.

 _She was real and she was here._

Thea lifted a shaking hand to cover her mouth as tears began streaming down her face. She barely registered Rosita asking if she was okay as she and Cat moved forward at once and engulfed each other in a tight hug, both burying tear streaked faces in each other's neck.

"I thought you were dead!" Cat wept as she pulled back and held Thea at arm's length to look her over in a way that felt very motherly, despite the fact that _she_ was the little sister. "I thought that herd got you."

The doctor shook her head quickly, tucking her hair behind her ears to get it out of her face and then reaching out to do the same with Cat's blonde locks. "N-No, I led them away and came back. You were gone, I thought I'd never see you again."

They hugged again and Thea didn't think she would ever let go. She didn't want to let go and have Cat disappear right before her eyes. Not after so long of believing that she was gone forever, not after all the sleepless nights and tears at the thought that she would never see her sister or her nephew again.

At the thought of the little boy, who would be four now, Thea pulled away. "Where's Hank?" she asked, even though she had heard Cat saying something about her son being too big for the crib she had given Rick.

"He's here, too. We left him with Eric." Aaron explained for Cat, who was wiping the tears from her face. He looked just as confused as the rest of the group, glancing between the two of them as he tried to figure out how they knew each other. And then when both women glanced his way, something in his face said he figured it out.

Thea glanced back at her apocalyptic family and put an arm around her sister's shoulders. Daryl and Rosita seemed to have figured it out, but a few of the others looked confused.

"Guys, this is my sister, Catherine." She informed them, earning surprised looks from most the group.

Maggie stood from her spot next to Glenn on the couch and rushed from the room with watery eyes and Thea felt a tiny bit ashamed for the reunion; Maggie didn't get to be reunited with her sister this way, would _never_ get to be reunited with her sister.

Glenn rose to his feet as well, moving over and offering a hand to the youngest Ellis sibling. "I'm Glenn." He said with a small smile, worry about his wife evident on his face.

"Cat." The blonde replied, shaking his hand firmly.

Glenn nodded before he excused himself to follow Maggie.

The others came forward slowly and introduced themselves to Cat, all except Daryl who remained in the back of the group watching them with those squinting eyes. Thea wondered what was going through his mind, but didn't bother to ask; she wasn't leaving her sister's side any time soon.

* * *

"How? How did you get here? How long have you been here?"

Thea and Cat were sitting on the porch swing on the porch of the house Thea was residing in, having finished with introductions and excused themselves to catch up with each other.

Cat laughed lightly, holding one hand up. "One question at a time!" She teased. When it earned her a glare she sighed. "Aaron and Eric found us—."

"—When?" Thea interjected.

Cat didn't miss a beat. "It was a couple weeks after we lost you. I managed to find a working car but we only had it for a day before I managed to wreck it. When I came to, Aaron and Eric were there. They saved us."

Thea's eyebrows rose high on her forehead. "You mean you've been _here,_ in Alexandria, this entire time? You've been _safe_ this entire time?"

Her sister nodded. "Yeah. We got lucky."

"That's great." Thea responded, though her throat was so tight it came out funny. Her eyes watered again and she looked down at her lap. "I've been looking for you this whole time and you've been here."

Her emotions confused her. Of course, she was happy that her sister was safe and had been safe and out of harm's way, but she couldn't help but feel like her efforts had been wasted. She had searched high and low and held onto the notion that she needed to stay strong and find her family, and yet Cat and Hank had been sheltered behind these walls for the entire time Thea had been suffering. Was it envy that had her shaking her head or frustration?

"What's wrong, Thea?" Catherine wondered, frowning as she reached out to put a hand on the doctor's arm.

She couldn't hold back the flinch that had her whole body shrinking away and when she looked up in time to see the confusion on Cat's face morph into worry she felt shame at the reaction. She shook her head, standing and raking her hands through her hair slowly as she paced the porch. Catherine wouldn't understand what she had been through, she wouldn't _get it_.

"I just…so much has happened. You wouldn't get it. You haven't been out there. I thought…I thought you would get it." She stammered.

Cat stood and moved forward. "Thea, talk to me. What won't I get?"

"No. No, no, no. I have to go. I have to—I need a minute."

She moved down the steps and took off across the yard quickly, ignoring her sister calling after her as she moved down the block and around the blue house. She stopped on the side farthest from the other house and rested her back against the building, closing her eyes for a long moment.

It had been hard for her to think about Cat being out in this new world with a toddler. She had pictured so many different scenarios, so many brutal deaths, so many terrifying moments when thinking about what Cat and Hank had been going through…and none of it had been true. She should feel happy about that, be glad her little sister and nephew hadn't suffered the ways she had suffered, but something in her was making it difficult. And she felt ashamed for that.

Footfalls to her right snapped her attention in that direction and she found Maggie a few feet away, her face fixed in a hard glare. It was odd to see that expression directed towards her, having never had any issues with the woman previously, and she frowned.

"Maggie, what's wrong?" she wondered, straightening up.

The other woman scoffed. "What's wrong? What's wrong is my whole family is dead. What's _wrong_ is that _you_ got your sister back and I didn't."

Thea shuddered out a breath and felt herself grow so stunned that she could only stammer her friend's name. "M-Maggie, I-I-."

The farmer's daughter continued with a heavy glare. "What makes you so special? Why do you deserve that more than me?"

The words were snapped out at her in a rush and Thea felt herself shrink back against the wall like a scolded child. She didn't know what to say, merely stood frozen on the spot and took the verbal lashing, shame coursed over her and she felt heat rise in her cheeks.

"Maggie." Glenn's voice came out of nowhere, stopping the rage-filled rant. He stood by the front side of the house along with Rick, Daryl, Rosita, and Cat.

 _Great, an audience._

Maggie shook her head slowly and backed away, turning and going around the back of the house without another word. But she had said enough.

As Glenn followed her, Thea wanted to cry. She hadn't expected that being reunited with her sister would cause anyone pain. Worst of all, she couldn't help but agree with what Maggie had said. Why was she more deserving of a family reunion than someone so selfless and pure as Maggie? What made _her_ so special that she got to see Cat again?

"Thea?" Cat spoke softly as she stepped forward, her face filled with concern.

She didn't want to hear it, didn't want anyone to try and convince her that what had been said wasn't true. She already _knew_ it was and no one could make her believe otherwise. She pushed off the wall of the house quickly and started towards the street, her head bowed.

"I have to be at the clinic." She stated meekly and shoved her hands into the pockets of the jacket she had put on earlier. She didn't stop to hear the rest of her sister's protests, didn't stop moving as a few tears slid down her face. Perhaps work would take her mind off the truth.

* * *

" _Well, well, well, what do we have here?"_

 _Thea felt her heartrate skyrocket and her eyes widen as the man spoke. She_ knew _that voice. The hairs on the back of her neck stood straight but she couldn't find it in herself to move, it was like she was paralyzed. Whether it was fear or actual paralysis wasn't clear yet._

 _She was lying face down on itchy carpet, her hands wretched far behind her back and connected to her ankles which were bent at the knees. She was_ hog tied.

" _You look like a present…all wrapped up for me!" The glee was evident in his voice._

 _She couldn't see him. Everything was black around her and she couldn't see him. Based off sound alone, though, she could tell he was standing over her, behind her. It made her skin crawl._

 _When a second man chimed in, she began to shake._

" _Gina really did a great job with the ropes, don't you think?"_

 _The first man chuckled. "Remind me to thank her when we're through."_

 _A hand landed on her arm and she thrashed her entire body to get away from it, but the fingers gripped tight. She couldn't escape._

* * *

"Thea!" A harsh whisper came suddenly, drawing her out of her nightmare.

She gasped, eyes flying open in surprise as she tried to get away from the hand. When she realized it was just Rosita standing over her bed and not either of the men from the dream, she relaxed.

"Are you okay? We could hear you next door." Rosita spoke as she sat on the edge of the bed.

Thea sat up slowly, pushing her sweaty hair off her face. "Hear me?" She asked in confusion.

The woman's brow furrowed deeply, incredulously. "You were crying."

She lifted a hand to her face and could feel the wetness on her cheek. By the look on Rosita's face, the woman was very concerned for her and she didn't want to escalate the situation. Instead, she wiped her eyes and shrugged. "It was just a nightmare." She stated, downplaying the fact that it had been a night _terror_.

The other woman didn't look too convinced, but didn't argue. "Was it Gareth or the asshole who attacked you?" she wondered.

Thea didn't want to talk about it, but Rosita was here and willing to listen and so she conceded. "Both, actually." It was all she could say right now, all the wanted to say. She bowed her head and hoped that the conversation would end there.

Rosita seemed to pick up on the fact that she didn't particularly want to discuss it and she sighed heavily and rose to her feet. "I'm not going to force you to talk to me, but I'm here if you want to." She said softly before stepping out of the room, closing the door behind her quietly.

She felt like a dick. Falling back onto the bed, she covered her eyes with both hands and let out a long sigh. And she couldn't help it when every time she tried to get some rest her mind was plagued with horrifying images and memories of the things both Hoyt and Gareth had done and said. She was exhausted and it was effecting her relationships with the members of the group.

Letting out a frustrated groan, she sat up and moved to her backpack. It was laying on the desk in the room and she reached into the small front pocket to retrieve the pack of cigarettes she had found in the graveyard of cars. There was only one left and she had been trying to save it, but now was as good a time as any for a bit of calming nicotine.

Pulling her jeans back on, she grabbed a light jacket from the closet and pulled it on, stuffing the pack and lighter into one of the pockets and sneaking from the room. She tried her best to keep quiet as she made her way downstairs and out onto the front porch, not wanting to wake any of the others in the house. Or worse, have those who had woken up to her crying come out to ask if she was okay.

Out in the dark on the porch, she rested against the railing and pulled the pack from her pocket. She lit the cigarette quickly, closing her eyes and enjoying the burn of the nicotine on her throat; her brain was immediately flooded with endorphins and she exhaled a puff of smoke in relief.

Finally, the perfect distraction.

She turned to her left to find a nice spot on the porch railing to sit and was startled to find Daryl already sitting there. She gasped loudly, her empty hand flew up to cover her chest as her heart pounded out of control.

"Jesus, Daryl! How long have you been sitting there?" She hissed out from between gritted teeth as she attempted to get her heartrate back to normal levels.

The archer shrugged his shoulders and took a hit off his own cigarette.

Thea sighed and pulled herself up on the railing, leaning her back against the post opposite the one he was resting against and curling one leg close to her body and leaving the other hanging. She brought her cigarette up to her lips and took another drag to ease her nerves once more.

"Can't sleep?" She wondered after a moment.

He was silent again and she wondered if she would ever get a response out of him.

"Me neither." She added softly, averting her eyes to the empty street.

After a long few minutes, Daryl spoke up. "Thought you'd be at your sister's place."

It wasn't a question, but Thea shrugged and answered anyway. "I don't know. She has Hank and…I don't want to bother her."

"She's your family."

" _You're_ my family. The people in the house and the house next door are my family. Cat being here isn't going to change that." she told him, locking eyes and trying to figure out what he was getting at. Did he think that she would leave them now that she had Cat and Hank back? That everything they'd been through would mean nothing to her?

Daryl pulled another drag from his cigarette as they stared at each other. "She's your blood." He said as if she didn't know that little fact.

Thea nodded. "I know. But she hasn't been out there, she doesn't _know_ the things that are out there. I don't want to burden her with it either."

"Think she wouldn't understand?"

"I _know_ she wouldn't understand. It's an entirely different world out there than in here."

He squinted at her for a long few moments and she found herself squirming as she tried to figure out exactly what he was thinking. Did he think she was being completely ridiculous? Was he under the impression that she was simply a paranoid, silly girl or did he understand what she was saying? Or maybe he was tired of trying to figure her out.

The last option seemed most likely when he scoffed and tossed the butt of his cigarette out onto the street. "That's bullshit." He said as he shook his head and slid off the porch railing.

Thea's hand froze halfway to her mouth with her own cigarette. "Excuse me?" she asked in surprise. While Daryl had never been particularly forthcoming with his support like Rosita or Glenn, he had never been so crass about his thoughts before. In the past, he had listened and added a few short comments or thoughts, but now he seemed to be changing it up. Perhaps this meant he'd had enough of her pity party.

"She was out there, too. Even if it was only for a week, she was." He told her. "People in this house? They'd kill for a second chance with their family. Maybe you should take yours."

It made sense, and yet she felt anxiety rising in her chest at the idea of telling Cat what had happened to her. _Would_ she understand the pain she had suffered, or would she pity her like so many others had?

Thea couldn't bring herself to meet his squinting gaze and her eyes fell to the wooden planks of the porch. Was she feeling shame because she had been acting like a child or because Daryl had called her out on it? Or maybe because she was too dumb to see how lucky she was to have gotten to see Cat and Hank again?

Regardless, she knew that she needed to talk to her sister. She needed to make this right.

Daryl had moved towards the door, but he stopped short and turned to face her once more. "We've all been through shit and sometimes you took the worst of it, but you have your family back. Might not get them back again."

As he reentered the house and left her out in the night air alone, Thea lifted the cigarette to her lips for one final drag before tossing it into the street with Daryl's. She wasn't enjoying the fact that he had just called her on her shit, but she was also grateful he had; he was _right_.

Sliding off the railing, she bolted down the steps of the porch and raced down the street. She needed to see her sister, needed to apologize for being so stupid before. She wouldn't tell Cat what had happened to her, _none_ of what had happened to her, but she couldn't leave things the way they were. And she needed her sister.

Her feet thumped loudly on the wood of Aaron and Eric's porch, followed soon after by her fist pounding against the door rapidly. She didn't know which house Cat and Hank were residing in, but she knew that Aaron would.

Panting, she stepped back from the door and waited. It was late at night, so they were most likely asleep. She wouldn't have bothered them if it weren't important.

Just as she was about to raise her fist to knock again, she heard the lock click on the other side and then the door was pulled open by a very sleepy-looking and confused Aaron.

"Thea? What's the matter?" He asked, taking in her frantic expression, along with the hour.

Hearing how his grogginess thickened his voice made her feel a little bad about waking him. "I'm sorry, I wouldn't have bothered you if it wasn't important." She said quickly, still trying to calm her panting breathing.

"What is it?" Aaron asked, his voice more concerned than irritated.

She swallowed. "Which house is my sister in? I need to see her."

Realizing that it wasn't a matter of life and death, Aaron visibly relaxed before opening the door wider. She watched as he grabbed a jacket off one of the hooks by the door and slipped his feet into a pair of house shoes.

"C'mon, I'll walk you." He said gently, stepping out onto the porch and closing the door behind him softly. He offered her a kind smile, and she felt herself relax just a little.

Maybe things would be okay.

* * *

The next morning found Thea sitting at the kitchen counter of the house Cat and Hank shared with Olivia and a girl named Enid, who was around Carl's age. The other two residents of the house were already out for the day, leaving the Ellis siblings with some alone time as Hank colored in the living room.

Cat, who was leaning against the sink with her arms crossed over her chest, stared at Thea. The older sister could tell that the younger was going to say something and after a few moments, she was proven right.

"So, you want to tell me what's going on with you?" She asked finally, her tone casual as she tried to hide how worried she really was.

Thea sighed heavily. She wasn't ready to reveal the truth again. The people from the prison pretty much knew about what Hoyt had done to her, each having figured it out if the doctor hadn't told them herself. It was so odd for her that she might have to say it again to someone. Scary that the words would have to leave her mouth once more after so long of being locked away. She thought she had thrown away the key.

Her silence was answer enough for Cat. "Aaron brings you by in the middle of the night and you crawl into bed with me, crying, and I'm supposed to just ignore that?"

"No. You're not." Thea whispered, fidgeting on the barstool. "But…I need you to be patient with me." She glanced back at Hank in the other room before continuing. "The things I've seen, the things I've _done_ …what's happened to me…" She trailed off with a shake of her head. "I'm not ready to talk about it yet."

Catherine narrowed her eyes as she studied the doctor. "Okay," She said finally. "But I'm not letting you off easy. I want to know what's going on. If I have to wait, I will."

"Thank you." It was all Thea could muster as she held her sister's gaze. She was grateful for the opportunity to see Cat again. Thankful for the chance to even get to have this discussion with someone she thought had been dead for so long. She didn't want to spoil the moment by arguing.

After a long moment, Cat sighed and straightened. "I have to go. Hank and I are going to keep Eric company for a bit today. It's Aaron's first run without him, and he's not taking it well."

Thea frowned. If Aaron was going on a run, that meant Daryl was too. "Aaron is going on a run? When?"

With a glance at the clock on the stove, Cat shrugged. "Ten minutes, give or take. He tries to leave as early as he can."

The doctor rose to her feet. "I have to go." She said, trying to keep her voice even. She didn't like the idea of Daryl leaving for a run, one that would last God knows how long, and leaving their conversation the way it had ended the previous night. She wasn't sure if he was mad at her or if he had just been annoyed in the moment, but she wanted to make it right. Or at least thank him for getting her head back on straight.

"Okay…" Cat was replying with a comical look of confusion on her face. She didn't understand the urgency, but she also didn't bother to ask. "One quick thing, though. I know you're going to be at the clinic later, but do you mind picking Hank up from school on your way back to your house? I've got something I need to do and Eric can't really walk over there with his ankle."

Halfway out the door, Thea turned and nodded. "Yeah, no problem!" She called over her shoulder before letting the screen door slap closed behind her.

For some reason, she opted to head straight for the gate instead of the house. If Daryl and Aaron were about to leave, she was more likely to find them there and she didn't have time to run around Alexandria in search of them.

Thankfully, she reached the gates just in time. Aaron was placing his pack in the passenger's seat of his car, which was parked behind Daryl's motorcycle right in front of the gates. Daryl was straddling the bike and fiddling with something as she approached.

She slowed her jogging pace to what she hoped was a normal walk and tried her best to look like she hadn't just had a mini crisis about the fact that Daryl could have left without her being able to do anything as simple as say goodbye. She felt silly at that moment, but the archer had already glanced up and spotted her so there was no going back now.

"Hey," She said awkwardly as she came to a stop beside his bike and crossed her arms over his chest.

He eyed her for a moment before responding. "Hey."

Was he mocking her or was her mind playing tricks on her? The latter was more likely, but she still bristled slightly at the reply. "So…you were right." She began. "I was being stupid about the whole thing with Cat and even though I'm not ready to tell her about everything that happened out there, I know she will understand when I am."

Daryl stared at her like he usually did. He didn't seem like he was too into the idea of having a conversation like this with her, but he didn't stop her rambling either.

"So…I just figured I should tell you that you were right. And that I should thank you, for helping me get my head on straight."

It seemed to make him uncomfortable, the praise, and he looked like he didn't know how to properly respond to her. In the end, he nodded his head, a near unreadable expression on his face that looked something akin to embarrassment.

Thea nodded in return before glancing back at Aaron as he got into his car. "Be safe out there, okay?" She told the bowman with a small smile before turning and moving towards the car behind him. She leaned down in the window and offered Aaron a grin. "Hey, sorry for waking you last night."

"Don't worry about it. It seemed urgent." The man reassured her. "Everything okay?"

She appreciated how genuine he was every time they talked. He seemed to really care about everyone here, even the newcomers. Something told her he was just that type of person. "Yes…I was just a midnight breakdown. Nothing new there. Thank you for helping me."

He nodded and though he looked like he wanted to, he didn't press for more information. "It was no problem. I'm happy to help."

She believed it. Nodding once, she stepped back from the vehicle as the gate was pulled open. "Be careful, yeah?"

"Always."

As she watched the two men drive out of the community, she had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that something bad was going to happen before she saw either of them again.

She hoped that she was wrong.

* * *

After an uneventful shift at the clinic, Thea found herself at the makeshift school to pick up Hank. It was in the garage of a couple who had been middle school teachers in the old world and most the kids there were Carl's age or older. Hank was the odd toddler out; she felt like she was rescuing him.

With the young boy propped on her hip, she found herself wandering in the direction of the group's houses as he chattered on about something he had been learning in class. If she was being honest, she wasn't really paying much attention to what he was saying; he didn't seem to mind.

Approaching the house she was staying in, Thea realized that no one else would be home now and she didn't feel like being alone in the house with just Hank and her thoughts. Movement in the blue house told her that _someone_ was there, and that seemed like a safer option.

Or so she thought.

On her way up the porch steps, Pete came out of the door slowly. He was carrying two beers, which wasn't surprising since he had been slowly getting trashed at the clinic all day long, and the smug look on his face told her that he was responsible for the look of irritation on Rick's face.

The blonde man's smug look morphed into something creepier upon spotting Thea and then he was on his way, reeking of alcohol as he passed her by.

Thea waited until she was inside the house and Rick was slowly shutting the door to speak. "God, he gives me the creeps." She stated with a shudder as she studied Rick.

The sheriff was watching Pete go through the cracks in the blinds on the window of the door and he nodded slowly. "Yeah," he said simply, clearly thinking of a different word to associate with Dr. Anderson.

Clearing her throat to change the subject, Thea shifted Hank on her hip. "Do you mind if we hang out here for a bit? Don't really feel like being alone next door."

Rick's eyes fell on the little blonde boy she was holding and a small smile graced his features. "That's fine. Judith is napping but maybe when she wakes up Hank would like to play with her."

Thea grinned. "Sounds like a plan."

* * *

Sometime later, Judith was still asleep and Hank was quietly coloring on a sheet of paper Rick had brought him. He was seated on a pillow on the floor in front of the coffee table, his little tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrated on whatever it was he was drawing.

Thea had forgotten how well behaved he was. He had always been good, even before the apocalypse, and she was grateful for a little quiet time.

The quiet was shattered when Carol came into the house. She shut the door behind her and rested against it, an uneasy look on her face that had both the adults in the living room on their feet in confusion.

"Pete's hitting Jessie." Carol said simply, moving further into the room to speak with them.

Thea felt her heart drop. She _knew_ something wasn't right with that man, but this was something she never would have imagined. Something she wouldn't wish on anyone.

"Maybe Sam, too."

If he was hitting his wife, he was more than likely hitting his children, too. Thea's blood boiled.

"You know this, how?" Rick asked as he and Thea both moved closer to the short-haired woman so Hank wouldn't hear.

Thea prayed it wasn't true, knew it was. "Did Sam tell you?"

Carol's eyes locked on Rick's. "He didn't have to." She told him.

The two of them stared at each other for several long seconds and it clicked in the young doctor's head that Carol knew because she had experience with this sort of thing; she had been abused in the past.

With a nod and a sigh, Rick paced over to the window. He pinched the bridge of his nose the way he always did and stared out onto the street where they could see Jessie and Pete's house in the distance. There was a long moment of silence and then Carol spoke up once more.

"Rick. I know how this is gonna go with Pete. There's only one way it _can_ go."

At her long pause, the sheriff turned to face her expectantly.

Carol's next words sent a shock wave through Thea's entire body and she wasn't sure if it was because she was surprised or if it was because she had a feeling Carol was right.

"You're gonna have to kill him."

Just like that, something clicked in Rick's eyes. The scary version of the sheriff was making an appearance suddenly as if he agreed with the older woman in the room. Thea opened her mouth to protest, but then she was cut off by screams from somewhere further away within the walls of Alexandria.

"HELP! I NEED HELP!"

* * *

 **A/N: If this chapter felt choppy, it was because that is exactly how Thea is feeling about now trying to integrate herself into Alexandria** _ **and**_ **figure out how to get control over her PTSD. She's a mess right now, and that's showing through my writing (or at least I hope it is) with the way the chapter jumped around.**

 **Cat and Hank are alive! I'm sure some of you probably figured out that I was going to bring them back when the group reached Alexandria, but I hope it still surprised you!**

 **I'm going to try and update again before the holidays, but if I don't get the chance then I would like to wish you all happy holidays and a happy new year! If I don't update before the 31** **st** **, I'll see you in 2017!**


	24. Salted Wound

**A/N: GOOD NEWS! I am officially done with training and on a permanent work schedule, so updates will be coming on a regular basis again! I just want to thank all of you who stuck with the story even though I wasn't updating as much, you guys are the true MVPs!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

" **HELP! I NEED HELP!"**

Thea felt her heart leap into her chest at the sound of Glenn's shrieks and she turned to yank the front door open and peer out into the street. Whatever was happening was too far on the other side of the community to see from the porch.

"THEA!" Glenn's voice came again, this time crying out for her like she was a lifetime.

The doctor turned to look at Hank, who was whimpering by the coffee table having been startled by the sudden terror in the atmosphere. She couldn't take him with her, and Rick was already grabbing his weapon. She turned to the only other person, the only other choice.

"Carol-"

She didn't finish her sentence before the woman interrupted with a nod. "I have him. Go."

It was all it took to get Thea racing out the front door and down the street, Rick following closely behind her. Her feet pounded against the pavement hard, her legs protesting slightly at the workout after spending so little time in Alexandria being physically active. She needed to get her body used to running again in case she might need to run at the drop of a hat. Like now.

She rounded the corner onto the street both the front gates and the clinic were on and spotted Glenn and Eugene carrying an unconscious Tara between them.

"What happened?" Rick demanded as he moved around to help carry the woman.

"Bring her inside!" Thea ordered, rushing up the steps to the clinic before an explanation could be given.

She held the door for them, her eyes assessing Tara as best she could. Blood was coating the back of her hair and based on how pale she looked, Thea could only assume that it meant she'd been losing blood for a while.

Glenn spoke up as they laid her on the table. "It was a grenade. When it went off she hit her head."

There was something more that he was holding back, the tears in his eyes told her that much but for now she only needed to worry about her patient.

"Turn her over." She instructed, moving to one side of the table to help flip Tara onto her stomach so that she could get better access to the back of her head.

As she pulled the woman's dark hair away from the wound, the door burst open and Rosita and Pete were rushing into the room. The Latina's face was stricken with worry, the pediatrician's set with a frown. A Pete came closer, Thea could smell the alcohol coming off him.

"I've got this." He said, coming around to try and push her aside.

Thea's anger for him flared. He was drunk out of his mind and completely out of his depth. He was a _pediatrician_ for Christ's sake, she was more equipped for this than he ever would be.

"You can go, I can handle it." She said firmly, trying her best not to lose her cool. She didn't need to start a fight with him right now.

Pete didn't listen. "No, no, I think it's probably best if I-" he was slurring his words and trying to squeeze between her and the table.

Thea threw her arm up to block him, using her forearm to push against his chest until he was stumbling backwards. "You're drunk! If you think for a second I'm going to let you touch her when you can barely stay on your feet-"

"-I'm not drunk!"

"You're drunk off your ass, as usual. Get out."

Pete's face morphed into anger. "You know what?"

Before he could continue Abraham, who Thea hadn't noticed come into the clinic, grabbed him by the shoulders. "All right, time to go." He grumbled as he pulled the inebriated doctor out of the clinic.

With that issue out of the way, Thea turned her attention back to her patient.

* * *

She'd done all she could to help Tara, it was all in the unconscious woman's hands now. That was the part she hated most about being a doctor, when everything possible was done and the only thing left was to wait and see how the patient pulled through. With the limited resources, Thea was unable to get a closer look at the problem in Tara's head via scan, which meant she had to fly blind. She'd done her best to relieve the pressure in her head and stitched her up, but now it was a waiting game.

Her hands were stained in the blood of the woman she had come to think of as part of her little apocalyptic family and she was scrubbing them raw in the sink when the door opened to reveal a grief-stricken Rosita. Her face was wet with tears and given how close she was with the woman unconscious on the bed nearby, Thea could understand why she might be crying.

Giving up on cleaning her hands for now, she shut off the faucet and reached for a hand towel to dry them. "Hey," she spoke tiredly, brushing hair from her face. "How are the others? Do they need anything?"

Rosita shook her head once and came to stop at the end of Tara's bed, her hand resting on the bed frame. There was something wrong, something more than just worry over her friend's state.

"Rosita, what is it?" Thea wondered with a worried frown.

The other woman took in a shaky breath. "Noah…he didn't make it."

Thea felt her eyes widen in shock. Noah was a good kid with a good head on his shoulder; he deserved a better life than he was given. "Oh, my god." She responded softly. Her eyes shifted over to where Tara was still unconscious. What had the group gone through out there? What horrors had they seen?

"Why don't you go get some rest? I'll sit with her." Rosita suggested.

She didn't want to accept the offer at first. She wanted to let Rosita go home instead, but she had been at the clinic for her shift all day and then come running back when Glenn had yelled for help. She _was_ tired.

Sighing softly, she nodded. "Yeah, okay," she agreed. "Let me know the second she wakes up."

"You got it."

With one last lingering glance at her patient, the doctor reluctantly left the clinic. The temperature had gone down in the few hours since nightfall and she wrapped her arms around herself to block out the bitter cold wind. Despite being safe within the walls of Alexandra, walking alone at night, especially without a weapon, had her on high alert; even before the world ended she would have preferred not to be caught in the dark without someone to watch her back.

"Well, look who it is." A dark voice stated suddenly from the porch of a house she was passing.

Thea froze. She hadn't realized she was passing by the Anderson's house and now here she was alone with Pete after calling him out for being a drunk, only hours before. She had to fight to keep from bolting; she didn't want him to know she was afraid.

"Doctor Know-It-All! How's your precious patient?" Pete was sitting in the shadows on his porch, but she could see the outline of a beer in his hand. He was drunk, still.

She ignored the question. "Is there something you need?" She asked bitterly.

Pete was silent for a moment or two, but then her stood. The wood of the porch creaked under his feet as he stepped towards the stairs. The beer was held loosely between his thumb and first and second fingers and she wondered where he got all the beer he drank daily.

As he stepped down the stairs, it took everything in her to not back away. If she did he might think it was a victory for him and that he was successfully intimidating her; he _was_ intimidating and her instincts were telling her to run now before something bad happened, but she wouldn't let him know how she felt. She kept her head held high.

"You know. I don't really appreciate the way you talked to me today." He said in a condescending tone.

Thea crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, I don't appreciate you trying to operate while under the influence. Especially when the patient is a good friend of mine."

Pete's face held a snide smirk and he chuckled lightly as if he was simply joking with him. He wasn't taking her seriously, and he certainly wasn't taking the situation seriously either.

Thea wondered how he had managed to make it as a pediatrician in the old world.

He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and, despite the distance between them, he still loomed over her, which wasn't exactly hard considering her short height. Again, she was trying her best not to look intimidated.

His face hardened. "Next time we're at _my_ clinic, you'll speak to me as a superior, as I am."

It was Thea's turn to bark out a laugh, surprise raising her eyebrows. "A superior? You're a pediatrician, I'm a surgeon! If anyone should be bringing superiority into this, it's me. You can barely stand up straight half the time-."

Pete cut her off by coming forward quickly, his face morphing into fury. He stopped when they were inches apart, the hand holding his beer lifting to point his index finger in her face. "You watch your mouth when—"

"Pete!" Jessie's voice called from the open front door.

The man in question turned around with an attempt at a pleasant smile on his face as if he hadn't just been pissed seconds before. "Yes?"

Jessie was watching them with a deep frown pulling at her entire face. Her eyes met Thea's and something clicked enough that she gave her husband a slight glare. "Come inside, it's getting late." She said casually, as if she hadn't caught them in an argument. As if her husband wasn't an angry drunk.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute." Pete spoke up in a lighter tone.

Jessie shook her head. "No, now." It was firmer, like there was no room for debate.

The way Pete's face shifted told Thea that those two would wouldn't go well for Mrs. Anderson tonight. She almost wanted to keep Pete's attention on her longer just to spare Jessie a potential beating, but her heart was pounding, but her heart was pounding in her chest just from being inches from him, she didn't know if she could take anything more.

Pete didn't say a word as he sent a glower in Thea's direction before trudging up the stairs and disappearing inside the house, his feet stomping the whole way. When he was out of sight, Jessie offered the doctor a tired smile before closing the door behind her.

Thea didn't have it in her to do anything more than turn and force her feet to move towards her own house. Before she made it ten feet, though, the reality of what violence could have almost happened hit her and she felt her breathing come in short bursts as tears fell down her cheeks.

* * *

She slept in the next day. She felt like she deserved the rest, and she could hardly bring herself to rise out of bed when the time came. Her head hurt from crying herself to sleep the night before and she couldn't stop the shaking in her hands.

She hated being this way.

When she finally managed to shower and dress in clean clothes, she found herself back in her bed simply to avoid other people. And she would have gladly stayed there the entire day if other _things_ hadn't gotten in the way.

The sound of glass shattering came from outside and startled her out of her stupor. She flinched and then stood slowly to check for the source of the noise from the window.

"Shit."

Rick and Pete were fighting in the street, a full-on brawl, and it didn't look good. From her position, she could see that Rick had red blood coating his face, but she couldn't tell the extent of his injuries. She needed to get down on the street and help.

She flew from the bedroom and down the stairs, not stopping as she burst through the door and took off down the street. A crowd was already gathering and as she joined them as she spotted Pete on top of Rick, punching him.

Jessie ran forward to try and pull her husband off the other man but he swung his arm back, his hand smacking into her cheekbone, and knocking her to the ground. She cried out in pain, cradling her face, and Rosita came forward to pull her out of the way as Rick gained the upper hand and rolled on top of Pete.

"Dad, get off!" Carl shouted. He took his turn to try and stop the flight and Rick shoved him away.

There was no stopping it.

"Stop! Stop it right now!" Deanna exclaimed as she came to a stop on the other side of the crowd as Thea stood on.

Rick was straddling Pete now, one bloody hand pointed in his pummeled face. "You touch them again and I'll kill you." He growled at the blond man.

Deanna grew angrier. "Damn it, Rick! I said stop."

A few men from the crowd took initiative then. Glenn, Nicholas, and a man named Tobin stepped forward to pull the sheriff away. Before they could touch him, however, he pulled a small gun out of the back of his waistband and pointed it at them.

"Or what? You gonna kick me out?" He asked with a laugh in his voice, like he found the whole situation funny.

Deanna had her hands raised. "Put that gun down, Rick." She said calmly.

On the ground, Pete was sputtering as he laid in the fetal position. Rick panted. "You still don't get it. None of you do! We know what needs to be done and we do it. _We're_ the ones who live. You, you just sit and plan and hesitate. You _pretend_ like you know, but you don't."

He was ranting, the hand that held the gun waving around wildly.

"You wish things weren't what they are. Well, you want to live? You want this place to stay standing? Your way of doing things is done. Things don't get better because you—you _want_ them to. Starting right now, we have to live in the _real world_. We have to control—" He pointed the gun at Pete. "—who lives here."

Deanna nodded slowly. "That's never been more clear to me than it is right now."

Rick used the gun and his free hand to point at his own chest, raising his eyebrows in surprise. "Me? Me? You—" He laughed. "—You mean…you mean me? Your way is gonna destroy this place. It's gonna get people killed. It's already gotten people killed."

He was back in that crazy-Rick mode she had seen too many times and it scared her. What if the gun accidentally went off? What if he pulled the trigger intentionally? What would Deanna do to him?

The sheriff continued to rant. "And I'm not going to stand by and just let it happen. If you don't fight, you die. I'm not gonna stand by and—"

Out of nowhere, Michonne appeared and smashed Rick over the head with a rock, knocking the man unconscious. He fell forward with a grunt and laid still on the pavement as the woman grabbed the gun from his limp hand. Panting, she stood over the sheriff and met Deanna's eyes expectantly.

No one moved a muscle.

From where he lay on the ground, Pete let out a wheezing cough that seemed to kick everyone into gear. The surgeon in Thea had her rushing forward to kneel beside Rick. She pressed two fingers to his pulse point just to be sure the blow to the head hadn't been too much, only relaxing slightly when she found a steady beat.

His face was shredded from the glass but most of the cuts didn't look like they would need stitches; a few were on the deeper side and she needed to take a better look.

Standing fully, she motioned for Abraham and Glenn. "Can you guys help me get him to the clinic?"

"No," Deanna protested, gaining everyone's attention. "I want him locked up, away from my people."

Thea scoffed. "Is that really necessary?" She asked incredulously.

 _Rick_ was not the bad guy here, Pete was. Sure, the sheriff had lost it a bit at the end and shouldn't have brought a gun into it, but he had his reasons. Pete Anderson was not a good man. Thea felt only a little shame at the thought that the world would be a better place if he was kept in check, or no longer around.

The small, older woman stood her ground. "Yes, it is. And I want Pete in another house alone. I don't want either of them near any of my people right now."

Thea didn't want to argue any further, instead she turned back to Abe and Glenn and waved them forward again. "Let's get him moved so I can take a look at him." She faced Deanna. "Anywhere in particular you had in mind?"

* * *

After locking Pete away in an unoccupied house on the opposite end of the community from where the fight had taken place, they got Rick settled into a small room in the basement of another house. There was already a one mattress and a lamp inside, which Thea found odd, and after the doctor had fixed his injuries to her liking Michonne had taken up watch in the room with him.

Thea had refused to see Pete, instead sending Abraham and Rosita over to take care of him; the redheaded man was security and the Latina was more than capable of dealing with a few minor cuts and bruises.

"Hey," Glenn called out as he approached where Thea was sitting on the stairs of the house Rick was in, watching across the street as if Pete would come rushing out to attack.

He had Carol and Abe with him, and his brow furrowed deeply. "Deanna is planning a meeting. To decide what to do with Rick, I think."

" _What?_?" Thea exclaimed, standing quickly. "Why should Rick be punished and not Pete?"

Glenn shook his head. "Pete is one of her people—"

"—he's a scumbag and an abusive drunk who doesn't deserve any more chances."

The other three survivors started at her, surprised by her outburst. She had never openly spoken about her issues with Pete, so it was understandable that they would find her reaction startling. She bowed her head in embarrassment for a moment.

"Sorry…he's just," she shook her head. "He's not a good person; Rick _is_."

Glenn's eyes softened in that way they always did. It was both endearing and infuriated how understanding he could be. "I know. That's why we need to make sure we're all at that meeting to speak for him."

Thea nodded slowly, agreeing that they had no other way of helping Rick. Maybe if enough people stood up for him then Deanna would see that he was truly a good man with good intentions. She feared, however, that only the sheriff's group would testify for him and that Deanna wouldn't take their word for anything more than a plea from friends and family.

"Come on, we need to talk to Rick." Abraham spoke up.

The foursome made their way down the stairs to the door that led to the basement room where Rick was being kept, the redheaded man holding the door open for the others to enter first. Rick was just waking up, pulling himself into an upright position against the wall groggily. He looked almost comical with all the butterfly bandages Thea had placed to hold his cuts together, but now was not the time for laughing.

Michonne spoke first. "Where'd you get the gun?"

Rick didn't respond so Carol did for him. "You took it, right? From the armory?" She paused. "That was stupid. Why did you do it?"

Thea could tell there was a lot more to the story Carol was trying to spin, especially with how she was feeing answers to Rick.

The sheriff shrugged. "Just in case."

"Deanna's planning to have a meeting tonight. For anyone who wants to." Glenn informed Rick and Michonne.

"To kick Rick out." Abe added.

Carol shook her head. "To try."

Glenn shook his head. "We don't know that."

"We do." Thea objected. "We all heard what she said about him being here."

There was a pregnable pause in the room until Glenn replied. "Maggie's with Deanna right now. She's gonna find out what it is."

Thea already knew what it was about, she was afraid that it was exactly what she thought.

Carol seemed to hatch a plan. She turned to Rick. "At the meeting, you say you were worried about someone being abused and no one was doing anything about it. You say you took the gun just to be sure that Jessie was safe from a man who wound up attacking you. You say you'll do whatever you want them to. Just tell them a story that they want to hear. It's what I've been doing since I got here."

This was the Carol that had blossomed at the prison and on the road, the one Thea had a problem with. The woman had become ruthless in her own way.

"Why?" Michonne and Thea asked in unison.

"Because these people are children and children like stories." Carol stated as if it were obvious. She didn't like being questioned.

Abraham asked the question on everyone's minds. "What happens after all the nice words and they still try to kick him out?"

That was what Thea feared. What if they tried to plead their case and Deanna still wanted Rick gone? What would they do then? She couldn't leave Cat and Hank but she didn't want to leave her group either. And she would never expect her sister to risk her son's life by leaving Alexandria to join her.

"They're guarding the armory now." Said Glenn.

Carol shrugged. "We still have knives. That's all we'll need against them."

Wait, what? Now they were going to _fight_ the Alexandrians? For what, control of the community? Or something more?

Their leader was nodding. He liked the way Carol was thinking. "Well tonight, at the meeting, if it looks like it's going bad, I whistle. Carol grabs Deanna, I take Spencer, you-" he pointed to Michonne. "-grab Reg. Glenn and Abraham cover us, watch the crowd. Thea, you—"

The doctor cut him off. She wanted no part of this. "No! Are you nuts?"

"We can talk to them." Michonne objected to the plan.

"Yeah, we will." Rick agreed. "If we can't get through, we take the three of them and say we'll slit their throats."

Thea's eyes widened in shock, she shook her head, eyes turning to Glenn for help. He was always the reasonable one, he had to find this plan as ridiculous as she did.

He did. "Like at Terminus?"

The reminder had Thea flinching as a flash of Gareth's face crossed her mind. She couldn't shake him no matter how hard she tried, and hearing the name of the supposed haven only made it harder.

"No, we just tell 'em. They give us the armory and it's over." Rick stated.

Thea had enough. "There are innocent people here! My _sister and nephew_ are here! What are you going to do, put a knife to a toddler's throat?" she cried, reaching her breaking point.

Glenn's hand landed on her forearm to try and calm her. "Did you want this?" He asked Rick.

Rick pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, I hit my limit. I—I screwed up…and here we are."

"…threatening to kill people who couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag." Thea grumbled, receiving an aggravated sigh from the sheriff.

He moved to lay down on the mattress again. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm just gonna sleep some more."

Thea scoffed and pushed past Abraham to storm out the door. Somehow Rick wasn't taking this seriously enough. How could he honestly think that this would turn out okay if he did what he was planning? And how could he as the group to take part in it? It wasn't something she was interested in carrying out and she wouldn't help them.

She wouldn't be privy to it, she refused.

* * *

"You sure you don't want to come?" Maggie asked softly as she hovered in the doorway of the living room.

Thea looked up from where she was sitting on the couch, arms crossed over her chest defiantly. She was refusing to go to the meeting simply because if something went down she didn't want to be caught in the middle of it. She didn't want blood on her hands.

"I'm not sure one person is going to make a difference, especially someone as biased as I am." She responded with a soft smile at the other brunette. "Go on without me."

There was a moment when it looked like Maggie might protest further but in the end, she simply sighed and left her alone in the house. Thea only felt a tiny amount of regret at not making an effort to smooth things over between herself and the farmer's daughter. Their relationship still hadn't returned to how it was before Alexandria, before Thea was reunited with her sister and Maggie was forced to watch all the while picturing the reunion she had never gotten.

Thea still felt like she had received a gift she didn't deserve. Like there was a catch to all this and she was just waiting for the rug to be pulled out from beneath her feet.

" _You get what you deserve._ "

It was Hoyt's voice that came rushing into her head. She could still practically hear those words leaving his mouth with a pant as he was on top of her and feel his hand holding the back of her neck in a vice-like grip, shoving her face against the scratchy carpet. In the end, it was always Hoyt who reminded her that good things didn't just happen anymore. There was always a catch.

Standing on shaking legs, Thea stumbled towards the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water. As she brought the glass up to her lips, her eyes caught movement out the window and she froze.

Pete was sneaking into the house next door, _Rick's_ house. What was he doing there when he knew everyone was supposed to be at the meeting?

The glass made an echoing knock against the marble countertop as she slammed it down and hurried for the door. She flew down the porch and across the lawn to the big blue house, where the door was still open for her to enter.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she demanded to know as she found Pete standing in the living room.

The tall man turned to face her and a scowl instantly dropped onto his face. "You should mind your business for once." He growled at her.

Gone was the man who had tried to play the victim earlier, gone was the man who put on charming airs. This man was his vile self…she could smell the alcohol.

She moved to stand on the opposite side of the coffee table as him. "You're in my friends' house and you're not wanted. I'm making this my business." She informed him. "Now…what are you doing here?"

Pete's eyes betrayed him and flickered to the wall above the mantle. When she followed his gaze, she realized just why he was sneaking around: Michonne's katana.

Hoping he couldn't tell she had noticed what he was after, Thea inched herself closer to the mantle, hoping to put herself between Pete and his potential weapon.

He noticed.

He stepped towards her with a glare. "I just want the sword. Don't make this difficult."

Thea shook her head and stood in front of where the katana was on display. "I have a pretty good idea what you plan on doing once you get it, so if you want it you're going to have to go through me."

It probably wasn't the best thing to say to a man who had never been shy to show his anger towards her. She regretted the words the instant they left her mouth, but there was no way to take them back now.

Pete smirked at her. "You have been getting on my nerves since you got here. I wouldn't push your luck, bitch." He snarled.

"If I let you take that sword, innocent people will get hurt. I can't have that blood on my hands." She wasn't sure if it was bravery or stupidity that had her standing her ground; an argument could be made for both.

"I've had enough of this." He spoke with exasperation.

He stepped forward and she lifted her arms to shove him away as she had done at the clinic the night before. She didn't have a lot of options for defense, something she definitely needed to remedy.

Unfortunately, Pete saw the push coming. He grabbed both of her wrists and yanked her forward, swinging her around so he could be closer to the katana. He released her and sent her sprawling onto the floor, her forehead smacking the hardwood hard enough to cause a bruise later, but not to knock her out.

She cried out in pain but scrambled to her feet; there wasn't any time to spare on wallowing in pain. Turning, she threw her entire body against Pete's back as he reached for the sword, knocking him off balance and once again placing herself between him and the mantle.

Pete let out an angry howl and rushed forward, reaching out to grab her by the shoulders. He shoved her until her back hit the wall to the right of the mantle. "Stay out of my way or else."

"Or what? You'll hit me like you hit your wife?"

The look on his face was almost worth it. "If I have to. You run your mouth too much, maybe a good smack will shut you up."

Her heart faltered and she swallowed the lump in her throat. "You're not getting that sword." She tried to sound tough, but her throat was too tight so it only came out as a whisper.

Pete chuckled, shaking his head. "Whatever."

He released her shoulders but before he could move for the katana again she reached out to try and stop him. His frustration finally exploded and he reached for her again. Out of surprise, she scratched her nails across his cheek, angering him further.

She barely had seconds to register his fist flying at her face before it impacted with her nose. She felt the bone breaking, blood gushing, and then the force of the blow had the back of her head slamming into the wall behind her.

Everything went black.

* * *

Her mind woke before her body did. She could feel the pain resonating throughout her head: the back of it, her forehead, and especially her nose. She couldn't open her eyes for a full minute, instead forced to endure the pain in a foggy darkness. Finally, when she was started to grow alarmed, she managed to will herself to move.

The first thing she did was cough a large amount of blood into the palm of her hand.

"S-Shit." She sputtered as the coppery taste.

It took a moment for her to realize that Pete was gone, and so was Michonne's katana.

Cursing again, Thea struggled to her feet and stumbled to the door. She had to make it to Deanna's courtyard, where the meeting was taking place before Pete could cause too much damage. She prayed she wasn't too late.

As she reached the street, it took her a second before she could regain her bearings and figure out which direction she was supposed to be going in. And then she was doing her best to get there as fast as possible, which wasn't very fast with how dizzy she was feeling.

"Thea?"

Recognizing the voice instantly, she froze in her tracks and turned, coming face-to-face with a man she had missed more than she realized. "Daryl?" She choked out, throat still coated with blood and mucus from her nose-break.

The archer stood with Aaron on the sidewalk, a dark-skinned man she didn't recognize between them. They'd finally returned from their recruitment run, and just in time.

"The hell happened to you?" Daryl asked, squinting at her and coming forward to get a better look.

She flinched away out of reflex, bowing her head slightly. She probably looked like hell, but now was not the time to deal with it. "Pete." She said simply. "He stole Michonne's sword…I think he's going to try and kill Rick."

Screams erupted from the direction of Deanna's house and Thea's heart sank.

"Come on!" Daryl shouted, taking the lead and racing in that direction.

The other two men followed behind him and Thea mustered up the strength to run after them. She feared what she would find when she reached the courtyard, but of all things she could have imagined what she found was nowhere on the list.

Abraham was holding Pete on the ground as a weeping Deanna cradled Reg in her arms. The man's neck had been sliced open, blood was pouring out like water. Michonne's katana lay nearby, blood on the blade. Something had gone horribly wrong.

"This is him! This is him!" Pete was yelling frantically.

Abraham pushed him harder into the ground. "Shut up!"

From where she held her husband, Deanna sobbed. "Oh, God! Oh, my love. My love, my love." She was trying to stop the bleeding with her hand but it was too late. "No, my love, no."

"It's him! This is him!" Pete repeated.

As Reg's life left his eyes, Deanna turned to Rick. "Rick…do it."

Before Thea could figure out what she meant, the sheriff turned swiftly and shot Pete in the head, splattering his brains on the brick courtyard as Jessie and another woman from the frightened group screamed.

The man Aaron and Daryl had returned with spoke then, drawing attention to the foursome who had arrived. "Rick?" He asked in a soft, surprised voice.

Rick and the man locked eyes, the surprise on both of their faces mirror images.

* * *

 **A/N: And that's the end of season five! I wanted to get an update to you guys before the midseason premiere, which I am very excited for! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, please let me know what you thought. Again, I want to thank you guys for being so patient while I went through training for my new job, I am more than excited to be back on a regular work and writing schedule. Another update will come soon!**


	25. Standing Still

**A/N: Here's the next update! I hope you guys enjoy! I found out that there was an estimated 4 days between the end of season five and the quarry scene in 6x01, so I am trying to draw those days out as much as I can to give you all plenty of Daryl and Thea interactions before more excitement starts.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

The gunshot was still echoing in Thea's mind when the stillness of the group dissipated. She stared down at Pete's brains on the brick walkway as if they would start sliding back into his head and this would all be a sick joke, but they stayed there. For a minute, she felt relief that this twisted man would no longer be around to torment her or anyone else, but then a sob from the crowd of Alexandrian's pulled her back into reality. A reality where a wife had just been forced to watch her husband executed.

Pete Anderson was not a good person, but Jessie was and she didn't deserve to witness the carnage that had unfolded in front of her. Thea felt a feeling of guilt creep up her spine. This blood was on _her_ hands; Reg and Pete had died because she was unable to keep Pete from taking Michonne's sword.

Her nose began to throb as her adrenaline went down; she needed to get some ice on her face and get a look at how bad of a break she was dealing with.

She took a step back, hoping to sneak away from the bloodshed and get a jumpstart on her own medical care, but as she did she accidentally locked eyes with Jessie over the fire pit. The blonde's watery eyes widened upon seeing the doctor's bruised face, and then flickered down to her husband's body as if she _knew_ it was Pete who had laid hands on her.

Thea couldn't stand to see the pity and guilt in her eyes; it wasn't Jessie's fault, it was Pete's…it was Thea's.

Turning on her heel, she was quick to get away from the courtyard, away from the group and the dead bodies. She only made it halfway home when a voice called out to her.

"Thea, wait up!" Rosita called, jogging down the sidewalk towards her.

Thea turned slowly, not in the mood to deal with whatever reaction her assaulted face would garner from her friend. She had a feeling it wouldn't be a fun conversation.

As Rosita came closer, she began speaking. "Hey, we need you—" her eyes widened comically. "What the hell happened to your face?" Her hand reached up as if to prod at her nose and faltered only when the doctor flinched away.

"Pete, he uh…"

The Latina's face hardened. "I'm gonna _kill_ that son of a—"

"—Rick already beat you to it, actually." Thea interrupted.

Rosita's face changed again, and if the situation had been different it might have been funny how many emotions she was blowing through in such a small amount of time. Instead, it only exhausted Thea more.

"What? What happened?"

The doctor shook her head, sighed, and waved her off. "It's a really long story. Weren't you saying you needed me….?" She quickly tried to change the subject.

Realization crossed her friend's face and she grabbed onto Thea's forearm. "Tara's awake, I need you to come take a look at her."

She felt relief knowing that Tara was finally awake after days of not knowing how she would recover, but her body ached, her _face_ in particular, and she didn't have the strength to walk across Alexandria again. She could do it in the morning, but for now this was something that Rosita could handle.

"Rosita, I need to wash this blood off my face and reset my nose and put ice on it. You are more than capable of handling Tara. Just…get her talking. Ask her what she remembers about the run, ask her how she's feeling. I'll come by in the morning."

"O-okay. Are you sure you're okay?" Rosita questioned, eyes scanning her busted face with concern.

She couldn't bring herself to lie to her friend when it would be so obvious she was lying. She couldn't lie to her friend. "No, I'm not okay. I'm not okay." She admitted quietly. "But for now, I need you to take care of Tara and I will try to take care of myself. Okay?"

The other woman hesitated, looking like she had something more to say, but finally she nodded. "Okay." She agreed simply before turning to head back towards the clinic without another word.

Thea watched her go until she was out of sight, around the corner, and then it was her turn to move.

* * *

She wasn't sure how exactly she made it home, only that walking into the house felt like an insane relief. She went straight for the downstairs bathroom, locking herself inside. She wasn't particularly excited about seeing what her face would look like, but she stepped up to the sink anyways, cringing at her reflection.

Her forehead was halfway covered by a dark bruise, but that was nothing compared to the middle of her face. Her nose had been broken in the middle of the bridge, the skin split in the process. The bruising had spread to beneath her eyes; two black eyes and a broken nose. She looked like she was part of an underground fight club.

"First rule of fight club…" she muttered to herself, wetting a washcloth and beginning to clean the blood off her face.

Most of it had dried already and so even after she had washed her entire face there were pink stains left behind. Her nose look worse cleaned up, though, and she realized that cleaning her face was stupid when she needed to set her nose so it would heal right and doing so would only make it start bleeding again.

She'd never set her own bone before, but she had a feeling it wasn't going to feel good.

* * *

She was right, it _didn't_ feel good.

After allowing herself a few moments to wallow in the pain, she had cleaned up her face again and gone to the kitchen to get some much-needed ice. Only there wasn't any ice in the freezer at her house, and so she found herself standing on the porch trying to decide if she wanted to make the trip next door to check for some.

On one hand, she _needed_ some ice to reduce swelling and just to make her feel better; on the other, she could always just go to bed and get some rest. The doctor in her was telling her just to get the damn ice, the victim was crying out to go upstairs and sleep.

But she was done being the victim, she wanted to get better both physically and mentally.

She walked slowly down the porch stairs and through the grass, up the steps onto the other porch and then inside the house. Doing so in one breath was the only thing that kept her from losing her nerve.

She avoided the living room and went straight for the kitchen, stopping short when she found Daryl, Rick, and the stranger seated around the island.

"How are you feeling?" Rick asked upon seeing her.

Thea avoided the question. "I just came to get some ice. We don't have any over there." She said instead, moving around the island and pulling open the freezer. She pulled the ice tray out and set it on the counter, grabbing a clean dish towel from one of the drawers and wrapping a handful of ice cubes inside and replacing the tray in the freezer.

When she turned back to face the men they were all staring at her.

"Thea, you okay?" Rick asked her, this time his face indicated he expected an answer.

She sighed and pulled out the chair that had been placed beside Daryl, who was eating from a bowl just as the stranger was, and curled into it, pulling her knees up to her chest. "No, I'm not." She said honestly, gingerly placing the ice against her nose.

The men were silent as if they expected her to continue, but she didn't intend on doing so.

Rick sighed. "This is Morgan." He motioned to the stranger before turning and moving to look at some items scattered across one of the tables in the foyer.

Thea returned the man's nod, but didn't say anything more.

Morgan turned to Rick. "You were right. It wasn't over." He said in a quiet voice.

Rick nodded. He was still covered in blood, where it came from wasn't certain, and the casual gesture seemed odd. "We should talk more tomorrow." He paused and moved back to where they were seated. There was a palpable tension between the sheriff and the newcomer. "Listen…I don't take chances anymore."

There was a pause and then Morgan nodded. "And you shouldn't."

Thea wondered how the two men knew each other. It was clear that they hadn't just met this evening, there was a history there. She wanted to figure it out, but she didn't want to push her boundaries. This was something she'd have to figure out through alternative channels.

Something told her one such channel was sitting beside her slurping down his meal.

* * *

Her bruises looked worse in the daylight and she almost didn't want to get up and leave her room, but she couldn't just lay in bed all day. She needed to get her body moving so that her mind wouldn't have time to overthink things.

Her hair had grown since she'd chopped it off at the prison. It fell just below her collarbones now and she was able to pull it back and twist it into a bun. It felt nice to have it off her neck, especially with the temperature rising.

Dressing in a fresh pair of jeans and a thin, long-sleeved shirt to save her arms from the bite of the wind, she slipped on the boots she had pulled from Father Gabriel's donation box back at his church. She had other shoes in the closet, but none that were as good for running as these were; she didn't want to fall out of her shoes if something went down, and something inevitably went down when she was least expecting it.

Daryl was out in front of the big blue house when she made it outside. The bike Aaron had given him for recruitment runs was parked in front of him and he was crouched down working on it with a wrench, an oil rag resting on his shoulder.

She moved straight for him. "Morning." She said as she stepped off the sidewalk into the street to stand on the opposite side of the bike as him.

He glanced up at her from his position. "You look like shit." He stated bluntly.

She knew he was referring to her beat-up face and rolled her eyes. "Well aren't you a charmer." She teased, crossing her arms over her chest.

Daryl snorted and pulled his hand back from the bike, rising to his full height and pulling the rag off his shoulder to wipe at his hands. His next words came as a surprise. "You alright?"

Thea hadn't expected him to ask if she was okay. She wasn't okay. She felt exhausted and her heart was heavy with guilt. She felt like Reg's death was her fault. Bowing her head, she shrugged one shoulder as she responded. "Not really. I'm kind of feeling like shit, actually."

He squinted at her but didn't say a word, which she took as a sign of him waiting for her to continue.

"After everything we went through out there, I'm still so weak. If I had been able to fight off Pete and keep him from taking Michonne's sword…Reg would still be alive. His blood is on my hands."

Daryl shook his head two short times. "Ain't your fault."

She disagreed. "If I knew how to defend myself better I could have kept him from taking that sword. Look at my face, he beat the shit out of me and all I did was scratch his cheek."

"Ain't nothing more you could have done. Pete was a big guy, you did what you could."

Thea scoffed, her head spinning. He had an answer for everything and he seemed to have so much confidence in her ability to fight off a threat. How could he not see that she was struggling to keep her head above water here?

"I wish I had an ounce of the strength you seem to think I have, Daryl. Maybe then I wouldn't be…whatever I am."

He was quiet for a long minute. His eyes studied her face before they fell to his oil covered hands. He shrugged one shoulder as if he was about to say something completely casual, but his words didn't come out that way. He met her eyes again and responded. "You are what you are, but it ain't weak."

What did he think of her? Once again, she was baffled by Daryl's view of her. How was it that he was constantly overestimating her; and why was it that he thought so highly of a simple doctor?

They held each other's gaze for a full minute and as her lips parted to speak, the door of the blue house opened and Rick stepped out, moving down the steps quickly. The spell was broken as Daryl turned towards the sheriff.

"So, is he okay with it?" He asked, referring to something Thea didn't know about.

Rick nodded. "It was pretty much his idea. He gets it." He stopped on the same side of the bike as Thea, a few inches of space between them.

"It's got a bed and a bath, but it's still a cage, you know?" Daryl responded.

Thea got it then. They were putting Morgan in the room Rick had been locking in after the fight with Pete. Why they were doing that, she wasn't sure.

"He gets it. He told me what happened out there with the trucks." Rick was saying.

Daryl set the oil rag down on the seat of the bike, resting the wrench on top of it. "He tell you about those guys he met?" He motioned to his forehead. "The W's."

And once again Thea was lost.

Rick nodded. "Like that walker we saw, yeah. We need more watch points. And I'm gonna tell Deanna we don't need to go looking for people anymore."

There was a long pause as Daryl realized what Rick was saying. He didn't look happy about it as he nodded, stepping away and raising a hand to chew on his thumbnail.

"You feel different about it?" Rick asked.

Daryl dropped his hand, nodded. "Yeah, I do."

"Well, people out there, they got to take care of themselves, just like us." Rick paused. "I'm gonna get him out. Shouldn't leave him in there any longer than we have to."

With that, the sheriff stepped away and headed in the direction of the house he had been locked in previously. As he went further away, Thea turned back to Daryl.

"What's with the W's?" she wondered, trying to get up to speed.

Daryl grabbed the wrench again and crouched down to continue working on the bike. "We found a walker out in the woods with a W carved in its forehead. Aaron and I found another one tied to a tree with a W on its head, too. And Morgan told us he had a run in with two guys who called themselves 'Wolves'."

"Same W's on their heads?" She put it together.

Daryl nodded. "Yep."

"So the real question is, were the walkers other 'Wolves' who died or are they carving up walkers?" she questioned.

He shook his head. "Neither. The one I found with Aaron was tied to a tree. Looked like she'd been strung up while she was alive and walkers attacked her."

Thea's heart dropped. People out there were so disgusting. "Jesus." She whispered, trying not to picture the way the woman must have suffered.

She blew out a large breath of air. "Okay, I have to get to the clinic and check on Tara. She woke up last night."

"She alright?" He wondered, perking up when he heard about the other woman. He cared so much about their little family.

"Rosita was with her all night, she should be fine. I just want to check in and make sure."

He nodded and said no more, going back to his bike and whatever he was trying to fix. She took that as her cue to leave and turned on her heel, marching in the opposite direction Rick had gone in.

* * *

The clinic was quiet when she got there. Tara was sitting up in her bed with Rosita sitting in a chair beside her. The latter had a magazine in her lap, her feet propped up on the bed as she read an article to the former.

"Hey, guys." Thea grinned as she stepped inside and moved towards Tara's bed.

The two women turned to greet her and Tara's smile fell. "Oh, my god, what happened to your face?" She asked with wide eyes.

Thea's smile faltered just a little as she came to a stop at the end of the bed. "That's not important. How are you feeling?" she asked.

Instead of answering, Tara shook her head. "You look like you got into an argument with Mike Tyson. What happened?"

Sighing, she came to the realization that she wasn't going to get her answers until Tara got hers. "Pete didn't take too kindly to me telling him no for the hundredth time. But it's fine, Rick killed him. Now, how are you feeling?" she answered in one breath.

Tara looked like a fish out of water for several seconds. "I-what? Holy shit." She sputtered as she took it all in. She turned to Rosita for confirmation and when the other woman simply nodded she faced Thea again. "Are you okay?"

Thea raised an eyebrow in challenge and Tara scowled. "Fine, I have a headache but I don't feel nauseous anymore so that's a good thing."

The doctor nodded and moved to the cabinet where they kept the medicine. She pulled a bottle of pain relievers from the shelf and returned to Tara's side, tipping two into her palm and then passing them along. "These should help with the headache. You're probably going to have it for a few days just because the blow you took was so bad, but other than that you should be fine. So long as you don't slip into another coma and bleed into your brain."

"Jesus, Doc." Tara commented, both her and Rosita looking incredibly shocked by the bluntness.

Thea shrugged. "You woke up so I doubt that's going to happen."

Tara sighed, relaxing visibly. "Maybe you should lead with that next time!"

"Right, sorry." She apologized.

Before anyone could speak further, the door opened and a blonde woman stepped into the clinic. She wore glasses on her round face and a look of nervousness across her features.

"Can I help you?" Thea asked with a kind smile at the potential patient.

The woman gave an awkward wave. "Uh—hi. I'm Denise. I thought maybe I could help you, actually."

Thea frowned. "Okay…?"

Denise moved closer, her eyes shifted to the other two women and she appeared to grow more nervous. "Since Pete is…gone…I wanted to offer my…services."

"Are you a doctor?" Thea wondered hopefully. While Rosita was a huge help, it would be even better to have a second doctor to help around the clinic. It would ease the load on Thea and Rosita immensely.

"Yeah, I mean, not a medical doctor. I'm more on the psychology side of things. But I went to medical school for a while before I switched." Denise rambled out an explanation. Something in Thea's face must have thrown her off though, because she quickly backtracked. "On second thought, maybe I shouldn't. I mean, I stopped for a reason, I probably shouldn't be trying to be a doctor now. And we don't really have the kind of technology that we need so I would only make it worse and be in the way. Maybe you should just forget I ever came by here—"

Thea cut her off. She stepped forward and reached out to rest a hand on the newcomer's forearm to calm her. "Denise, calm down," She said with a small laugh. "You're more than welcome. We could really use the help and I'm sure you'll catch on quickly."

The acceptance baffled the blonde. "Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously. I'd appreciate the extra hands." Thea stated honestly.

"Oh, okay. Great. Good, that's…good."

Denise seemed genuinely surprised that she had agreed to 'hire' her on at the clinic. If Thea had to guess, Pete probably hadn't been too welcoming of the woman prior to his death; she assumed it had more to do with her looks than her lack of experience. Denise was a beautiful woman, but she wasn't the type of girl Pete seemed to leer at.

She was lucky.

* * *

Sometime later in the day, Thea found herself seated on the back of the couch in Deanna's study. The one that Deanna had sat on when she had conducted her interviews of the group. Most of the community was piled into the room with them, Maggie and Glenn were seated on the couch cushions in front of her, Sasha beside the former. A scavenging group who had been out on a run for the past few weeks had returned, and the leader, a man named Heath, was telling them about a massive herd of walkers trapped in a quarry.

"My team, we saw it early on, back when we were on one of those first scouts, finding out what was around here." Heath was saying. "There was a camp at the bottom. The people, they must have blocked the exits with one of those trucks back when everything started to go bad. They didn't make it. They were all roamers. Maybe a dozen of them."

"No one's been back since?" Maggie wondered.

Heath shook his head. "DC, every town worth scavenging are all in the other direction. And I never really felt like having a picnic next to the camp that ate itself."

"So all the while the walkers have been drawn by the sound and making more sound and they're drawing more in." Michonne put it together.

Rick stood at the mantle, hands on his hips. "And here we are. Now what I'm proposing, I know it sounds risky, but walkers are already slipping through the exits. One of the trucks keeping the walkers in could go off the edge any day now. Maybe after one more hard rain. That exit sends them east. All of them. Right at us. This isn't about _if_ it gives, it's _when._ It's gonna happen. That's why we have to do this soon."

"This is—I don't even have another word for it. This is terrifying. All of it." Carol said, playing the whimpering housewife role well. "But it doesn't sound like there's any other way."

A man with close cut blond hair who was standing in the door spoke up. "Maybe there is. I mean, couldn't we just build up the weak spots? I could draw up plans. I worked on the wall with Reg. Construction crew—we can try and make it safe."

"Even if we could, the sound of those walkers is drawing more and more every day. Building up the exits won't change that." Rick argued.

Thea couldn't help but agree. A herd that massive was too dangerous to just leave alone; they had to act fast.

From where she stood at the window, Deanna spoke up. Her back was turned away from the group, her hair brushed but not quite as neatly kept as she usually had it. She was still grieving. "We're gonna do what Rick says, the plan he's laid out."

"I told you all, we're gonna have Daryl leading them away." Rick put in.

Thea's eyes moved to where the archer was sitting in the window behind the loveseat Rosita and Abraham had dragged into the room. He had his feet propped up on the window sill, a book in his lap. She didn't like the idea of him leading a herd of this size away by himself. This was dangerous.

"Me, too." Sasha said. I'll take a car, ride next to him. Can't just be him. I'll keep 'em coming, Daryl keeps 'em from getting sloppy."

Abraham liked this plan. "I'll go with her. It's a long way to white-knuckle it solo."

Rick nodded. "We'll have two teams. One at each side of the forest helping manage this thing. We're gonna have a few people on watch from now on. Rosita, Spencer, and Holly. So, they're out. So, who's in?"

"Me." Michonne agreed.

In front of her on the couch, Glenn leaned in close to his wife. "You should keep an eye on her. Keep going with the plans you talked about."

He meant Deanna.

"I know, but this is important." Maggie protested.

They were speaking in whispers, only Thea and maybe Sasha could hear.

"She's important. People are scared. They need to see her come back." Glenn explained.

Maggie sighed. "That's not the only reason."

Thea wondered what they were referring to, but the way they locked eyes and they small smile that graced Glenn's face told her what was up; Maggie was pregnant.

"Yeah, it isn't." Glenn agreed, waiting for Maggie's okay before nodding at Rick. "I'm in."

"I'd like to help as well." Father Gabriel tried to jump in.

Rick quickly shot him down. "No. Who else?"

Thea knew he wouldn't let her come with them, but she had to try. She wanted to help. "Me." She said simply, raising one hand.

The sheriff's eyes moved to hers and he shook his head. "You're our only doctor now. I won't have you in harm's way."

Though she knew it was coming, she couldn't help but feel frustrated by his decision. She hated that her position in the community kept her from helping like she really wanted to.

"There's gotta be another play." The blond man protested again. "We can't just control that many."

An irritated sigh came from Rick. "I said it before, walkers herd up. They'll follow a path if something's drawing them in. That's how we can get 'em all at once."

"So, what? We're supposed to just take your word for it? We're all supposed to just fall in line behind you after…" the man trailed off as he realized what he was about to say. Or maybe he just lost his gumption.

Rick challenged him. "After what?"

Fueled by defiance, the man continued. "After you wave a gun around screaming, pointing it at people. After you shoot a man in the face. After you—"

Thea cut him off. "—After said man did _this_ —" she pointed to her face. "—to me and his _wife_ and maybe his children."

"Enough!" Deanna exclaimed, facing the group and silencing them.

After a moment of awkwardness, Thea feeling shame for airing Jessie's dirty laundry to the community, Heath spoke up. "I'll do it."

"Me, too." An Alexandrian woman Thea didn't know volunteered.

Tobin stepped forward. "Whatever you need, I'm in."

"Now, who else?" Deanna asked, clearly telling her community it was okay to step up to the plate.

Nicholas raised his hand slowly, despite the subtle way Glenn was shaking his head at him. "I'll go." When Glenn stiffened, Nicholas faced him. "We have to do this. I need to help."

Rick and Glenn exchanged a glance. "You sure you can handle it?" Rick asked.

"You need people." Nicholas said simply.

The sheriff nodded and looked around at the group. "We'll make this work. We'll keep this place safe. Keep our families safe. We will."

"The plan. Go through it again." The blond man said, earning a sigh from Thea.

Daryl spoke up for the first time during that meeting, his voice laced with frustration. "Man, he just said it." He growled.

The man ignored him. "Every part again. The exact plan."

Though it annoyed Thea, if hearing he plan again was what it took for this Alexandrian to accept things then so be it. She just wished she could join the team for something so important.

* * *

That night, Thea found herself sitting on the porch railing with her eyes trained in the direction of Jessie's house. Something in her wanted to go and apologize to the woman for what had happened in the meeting that afternoon. She shouldn't have said what she had said about Pete hitting Jessie and the kids, it wasn't her business to announce it to the entire community like that. She felt bad.

Add in the fact that if she had been able to stop Pete at Rick's house, he wouldn't have gone to the courtyard and killed Reg, and he wouldn't have gotten killed himself. While Jessie might be glad to not have to worry about her safety anymore, Thea was sure that she would rather be free of him in a different way. That was another thing she needed to apologize for.

As she was about to slide off the railing and sneak down the street, the front door opened and Daryl stepped out onto the porch. He held his pack of cigarettes and lighter in one hand and when he saw her he glanced around as if he expected someone else to be with her. Maybe he thought Cat was around, or maybe he was just wondering why she was sitting alone.

Thea wished she could go to Cat's place and just sit with someone who had known her for decades, but she had told her sister to steer clear of her. She didn't want Hank to see her with her face beat up, didn't want him to question it or be afraid that something might happen to his mother or himself. It ate her up inside that she would have to avoid her nephew for the duration of her bruises, but it was necessary to keep him from the harsh realities of the world.

Daryl pulled himself up onto the railing across from her and took a cigarette out of the pack. He tossed the package to her without a word and she caught it with ease. She shouldn't make a habit of smoking, but it had become their thing.

When both cigarettes were lit, Thea finally asked the question that had been eating at her all day.

"How do Rick and Morgan know each other?"

It must not have been what he expected her to say because eyebrows rose slightly before he answered. "Rick was in a coma when this whole thing started. When he woke up, Morgan found him. They got separated, met up again while we were at the prison. That's where we got all them guns. Rick said he was batshit crazy, but I guess he straightened himself out."

"Wow, that's quite the history." She commented, taking a drag of her cigarette.

Daryl nodded a couple of times before asking his own question. "Why you out here by yourself?"

She debated on telling him a lie, but ultimately the truth came out. "I'm trying to figure out if I should go apologize to Jessie."

"For what?"

She rolled her eyes. "You heard what I said in the meeting. It wasn't my business and I just told all of Alexandria. She's gotta be pissed at me, or at the very least upset that everyone knows."

Daryl shook his head. "Everyone already knew Pete was a piece of shit."

Maybe he was right about that, but it wasn't really her place to go around talking about it. She was pissed at herself and at Pete Anderson and she had let it get the better of her in the meeting. The blond man, who she'd come to learn was named Carter, didn't help the situation with his stubborn inability to agree with the plan.

"I don't know. I just think I should say I'm sorry." She shrugged, eyes turning downward to the glowing end of her cigarette.

Daryl grunted. "You ain't gotta apologize for nothing."

There he went, continuing to baffle her with words she didn't understand. Why did he seem to always be going to bat for her? She had to change the subject before she said something stupid, but she didn't want to leave it at that either. Stupid was just going to have to come up.

"Why not?" she asked him, brow furrowing in confusion. "Why shouldn't I feel sorry for causing her husband's death and then blasting her business to the people of Alexandria?"

He heaved a sigh, shaking his head at her and puffing on his cigarette. "You can feel it all you want, doesn't mean you need to say it. He attacked you, broke your nose. Jessie should apologize to you for that, if anyone should apologize. But she doesn't, and you don't."

She didn't know what to say. She didn't know if she should comment on his words or how frustrated he seemed to get by her insinuation that this was her fault. What was the problem with feeling a little guilt? But maybe he was right, maybe she should just keep her head down and try to forget about this whole thing. It was easier said than done.

She pulled a puff of smoke into her lungs and sighed, decided changing the subject was better than frustrating him further.

"So, this plan Rick's cooked up….do you think it's going to work? I mean, a herd this massive isn't going to be easy to handle."

Daryl was silent as he finished his cigarette and then tossed it into the street. "I think we gotta do what we gotta do. If it doesn't work, then we find another way."

She wondered if he was scared or worried about what the outcome of the plan would be. Did he ever get scared or worried or was he just as tough as he on the inside as he appeared to be on the outside? She knew he was different from what he projected, but sometimes she wondered if he put on a show with everyone else so that no one would believe her if she tried to tell them he had been kind to her.

Before she could stop herself, she spoke up. "I don't know how much I like the idea of you out there on your bike by yourself, leading this monstrous herd so far away from home. Even with Abraham and Sasha out there with you, I don't like it. I don't like any of you being that close to things if something were to go wrong."

He eyed her for several long seconds before shrugging. "Got a good doctor back home if we need help." He grunted.

She appreciated the compliment, but wished she could go out there with them. She hated how valuable her job was. "Maybe you need a good doctor out there with you in case you _can't_ make it back home." She suggested.

Daryl slid off the porch railing. "You wanna be out there, it's not my decision to make." He commented before disappearing back inside, leaving her with a lot to think about.

In the morning, a team would head out to start building the wall on the intersection of Marshall and Redding in order to turn the herd away from Alexandria.

She would go with them.

She'd use the time to build up case to Rick as to why she should be allowed to join them on the mission.

She wouldn't rest until he let her come along.

* * *

 **A/N: So, this chapter only spans one day of the four between the seasons, but I don't plan on doing three more chapters for three more days. I just wanted to give you all a feel of what Thea's feeling right now in the wake of Pete's outburst. I hope you guys enjoyed the slower pace of this chapter and didn't get too bored, also I hope you liked the interactions between Daryl and Thea.**

 **Please review if you have the time!**


	26. Live Wire

**A/N: The action begins here! This chapter completes the 4 days between the end of season five and the beginning of season six. It also spans the entirety of 6x01! I apologize for the length of time between chapters this time, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

The next morning, Thea found herself on the intersection of Marshall and Redding wearing a pair of suede work gloves that were a size too big. She was carrying two long boards of wood from a truck to where they would need to be for the wall construction, her biceps yelling just slightly at her. They hadn't had much of a work out as of late; killing walkers via swinging an axe kept her relatively strong, but now she'd had too much time off.

She was thankful that her hair was now long enough to pull off her neck because the sun was beating down on them and she was sweating like she had been sweating back when they were on the road. She knew that she would probably be aching tomorrow, but for now she focused on her two missions: proving she was more than just a doctor and convincing Rick that she could be an asset to the group leading the walkers away.

Said sheriff was digging on the side of the road and she let her gaze linger on him as she passed by.

She had practically begged Rick to let her come with them to set up the blockade, she was certain that he would put up a bigger fight about the prospect of her joining them for the real deal. In the end, however, it would be worth it to prove to them that she was worth more than just her medical prowess.

Dropping the plywood on the ground beside the growing pile, she turned and spotted Glenn digging not far away. She had been wanting to talk to him about Maggie's pregnancy. There was no way that Maggie would talk to her right now, they hadn't said more than a few words to each other since the day Thea had been reunited with Cat. The doctor wanted to extend both her congratulations to the couple and her medical services.

"Glenn," she called in a quiet voice, waiting until his head turned in her direction to motion him over to the side away from the others. Once he joined her, she offered a small smile. "Maggie's pregnant?"

Though she had spoken quietly, Glenn's eyes still widened comically and his head whipped around to see if anyone had heard, lifting a finger to shush her.

"How did you know? Nobody knows but us and we aren't telling anyone yet."

"Glenn, relax, I'm not going to tell anyone. I was sitting behind you guys in the meeting the other day, I figured it out." She reassured him. "I was just going to say that if you guys want me to take a look and make sure everything's okay, I'm here."

His expression softened and for a moment it appeared that he was feeling shame for freaking out about her knowing. He looked down at his feet for a long moment before sighing softly, nodding. "Okay, thank you. I'll talk to Maggie about it."

He spun on his heel and took a few steps in the direction he had been digging in, but before he could get far, Thea called out to him.

"Glenn." As he faced her, she grinned. "Congratulations."

It broke the stressed air between them. Glenn's mouth spread into a large smile and he moved in with his arms open for a hug. They embraced in a tight hug and it felt like they had returned to the friendship that had formed back at the prison, but had been lost with the tension between Thea and Mrs. Rhee.

"Thank you." Glenn replied softly, releasing her and hesitating only for a second before returning to work.

Relieved and feeling like she had accomplished something, Thea made her way towards the truck carrying the plywood she had been moving previously. She would wait until later this evening to talk to Rick about going with them on the big day, for now she would work her butt off to prove she was a physical asset as well as a medical asset.

"Thea," Carol called out to her as she was about to grab a couple more pieces of wood. The woman had come along with what appeared to be one mission: serving water to those working. Thea knew that she was more than capable of pulling her own weight, but her cover as Susie Homemaker in Alexandria would be blown if she were to take off the cardigan and start hammering away.

The doctor faced the other woman, using her forearm to wipe away the sweat from her brow and squinting through the sun at her.

"Take some water." Carol held a tray full of half-filled paper cups out to her. Something in her face spoke to ulterior motives. The next words out of her mouth confirmed it. "What were you talking to Glenn about?"

Thea lifted a cup to her lips and sipped at the water, raising an eyebrow in amusement and staring over the rim at her. "That's not really any of your business, is it?" she asked, keeping her expression neutral so none of the Alexandrians milling about around them noticed.

Carol smiled and looked around them, keeping the charade going as well. "It looked pretty serious."

Draining the rest of the cup, she placed it back on the tray and sighed. "If I don't tell you, are you going to drag me into a courtyard and set me on fire?" She asked, hands on her hips in challenge. This was the first time she had confronted Carol to her face about Karen, and she wasn't sure how it would go.

The older woman's false smile remained in place, but the tick in her eyebrow revealed that she hadn't liked the comment. "We shouldn't talk about this now." She said simply. Before anything more could be said, Carol stepped away to continue distributing water to those working.

Thea huffed in frustration and reached for more boards of wood from the back of the truck.

* * *

"Hey, Rick, can I talk to you?" Thea called out as she pulled the door closed to the clinic and marched down the porch steps. Now was her time to convince him to let her tag along for the mission to clear the walkers.

The sheriff let out a heavy sigh as he slowed his pace, his brow pinching in exasperation. "If this is about the run—"

"It is and your frustration isn't going to stop me from pleading my case." She interrupted, sidling up alongside him and continuing down the street in the direction of their houses.

He sighed again, she could tell he was getting tired of telling her no so many times. "Thea, you know why I don't want you to come. You're our only surgeon now. What if you go out there and get hurt, or worse? Who will take care of you?"

Thea scoffed. She didn't think he cared so much about no one being able to take care of her, but that he was worried she wouldn't be around to take care of everyone else. She _got it_ , but she was more than just a doctor. "I'm tired of being treated like a child because I'm 'valuable'. You know that what you're really worried about is that I won't be around to take care of someone if they get hurt. And that's what I'm worried about, too."

He fell silent as they walked. When their houses came into view, they could see Daryl and Carol out on the porch of the blue house chatting. Turning his head towards her, Rick released a breath. "Alright, let's let them hear your pitch. If Daryl and Carol agree…we'll see."

It was a start, better than she could hope for him to say. She had expected him to tell her he didn't want to hear it and walk away, this was good. Daryl might just be on her side, and Carol might dislike her but she wasn't an idiot; they would see the value of bringing her along.

Rick was first up the porch steps and he motioned towards Thea. "Thea has something to say about the run. The decision shouldn't just be mine, I want to know what you two think."

Being put on the spot made her stomach flutter. The three of them staring her down brought back memories of her oral boards, when she had been forced to sit in a room with three instructors and prove to them that she had the knowledge and skill-set to be board certified. But she had proven herself worthy then, and she would prove herself worthy now.

"You want to go with them?" Carol asked, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back against the railing.

Thea nodded. "I do. And I think that it would better for me to go than to stay." She began. "What if something happens out there and you guys can't get back to Alexandria in time. If there is a chance that I could save someone and they end up dying because I was too far away, it would be devastating."

"I think we need her here, safe. We don't need to lose another doctor." Rick put in.

Daryl was listening silently, seated with his left leg tucked up on the railing, his left elbow resting on his knee as he chewed on his thumbnail. As usual, he was extremely difficult to read.

Carol shrugged. "She has a point; you might need her out there."

It was strange to hear the older woman agree with Thea, but she wasn't going to get excited about it too soon. There had to be more to what Carol was thinking than just agreement.

"Daryl?" Rick asked of the silent man.

It took a moment before he spoke up. "It's too dangerous. That amount of walkers," he shook his head. "Anything could go wrong. Losing a doctor is worse than losing one of us."

His disapproval surprised Thea, but at the same time it didn't. She sighed softly, eyes falling to the boards of the porch. If Daryl didn't agree, then her chances of going just slipped out the window.

But she _wanted_ to help in some way, and an idea struck her. "Okay, so don't let me go on the run." She stated.

Rick could sense she wasn't giving up so easily. "But?"

 _All or nothing_. She thought to herself before continuing.

"Don't take me on the run, but let me come with you tomorrow on the dry run. Let me see the routes you'll be taking, the different meeting points, back up plans, everything. Then, on the day, leave a walkie here with me and if you need me, you can call. That way I'll be out of harm's way, but I'll know exactly where to go if I'm needed. We all win."

It was a shot in the dark, but it seemed like an excellent plan to her. The dry run would be uneventful, but she would get the chance to prove herself in a way, and in the end, it would give her more of a role than she would have just dutifully staying behind.

Rick considered her for a moment, wheels nearly visibly turning in his head as he eyed her. He seemed slightly impressed with her plan, and after a few seconds of chuckling, he nodded and shrugged. "Daryl?"

The archer shrugged. "Couldn't hurt."

"Carol?"

The woman gave a curt nod, standing fully. "It's a good compromise."

Thea felt herself grin as she faced the sheriff, eagerly awaiting his approval. He _had_ to agree to this, after all, it was now three against one.

"Alright, you can come on the dry run tomorrow. But the next day, you're behind these walls with a radio, like you said." Rick consented.

"Yes!" She exclaimed in excitement, unable to control herself. She jumped in place and clapped her hands together a few times. "Thank you, I promise I will stay out of the way tomorrow."

Rick grinned at her reaction and bobbed his head. "Get some rest. We're leaving at sunup."

* * *

"You're going on that run?" Cat asked in surprise as she placed one of Hank's shirts in the basket on the table.

They were folding laundry as Thea explained the plan to her sister. Henry was fast asleep in his bed, allowing Thea to visit without having to explain to the toddler why her face was bruised. That conversation would not be a fun one.

Thea began folding a little green t-shirt with a brown stegosaurus on it with an eye roll. "I told you already, I'm not going on the _actual_ run. I'm just going on the dry run tomorrow so I can see the route and the meeting points. That way they can radio me in the clinic if they have an emergency and I'll know exactly where to go."

"But it's dangerous out there. What if something goes wrong tomorrow and you don't make it back?"

Thea knew firsthand how dangerous the outside world was and the thought of going back out there _did_ make her slightly nervous, but they would be in a large group and they could handle it. They'd spent enough time on the road prior to Alexandria to know what they were doing. She didn't blame Cat for being nervous, however, seeing as the younger woman had only experienced life beyond the walls for two months. It was normal to fear the unknown, especially when she _knew_ some of what was out there.

"Cat, nothing will happen out there. We're good at this whole 'outside the walls' thing, remember?" she reassured.

It didn't help. Her sister had always been a little neurotic. "But what if it does? And what if something happens _here_ while you're all gone tomorrow?"

Thea scoffed. "Catherine, _nothing_ is going to happen out there. And you're completely safe in here, almost too safe, if you ask me. Just relax and don't worry about it, I'll be back tomorrow in no time."

Cat sighed heavily and ran her hands through her blonde locks in exasperation. "I don't know how you can be so calm about this, Thea. I, for one, am worried and I have this feeling that I'm never gonna see you again."

The words made Thea's heart skip a beat. A million what ifs started going through her mind, but she knew that she had to go on the dry run in order to be able to help everyone. She put down the pair of shorts she had just scooped up and rounded the table, reaching out and pulling her sister in for a hug.

"Don't worry about me, Cat, everything is going to be fine."

* * *

The next morning, they left at sunup, just as Rick had told her. First, they rode out to a small clearing on the side of the highway, where they had pounded a wooden stake in the ground and tied a few green balloons.

"Alright, this is the finish line. When we make it to green, we fall back. The ditches and ridges will keep them on the road. We head home, but Daryl, Sasha, and Abraham take them the rest of the way, 20 miles more." Rick explained to the group who stood around the post. "All right, let's go."

They had started at the end of the trail to work their way to the quarry and end the dry run there, explaining the plan once again, fully.

He walked away from the post, leading the group towards the next pit stop.

They walked for several long minutes before they reached a small store with tractors out front. A female walker was trapped from the waist down beneath the bucket of a small, farming bulldozer. Her arms stretched out towards them as they approached, but none of them moved to silence her snarls.

The sign above the wall of windows read: "Rendon Equipment Sales. Virginia's 1st Choice!".

Behind the glass, trapped in the store, were nearly a dozen walkers. As they spotted the group of survivors, they began beating on the glass weakly and growling in hunger. The sound of them was loud, even through the windows, and Thea had almost forgotten what a large group of walkers sounded like.

Rick began speaking again. "We're gonna take 'em right past here. All that noise could distract them. We'll clear it on our way back tonight. We don't want any surprises tomorrow."

They had really thought this plan through and Thea was very impressed with it. She couldn't help but feel relieved they had agreed to let her tag along on the dry run since the route was so long; knowing where each color zone was, was a huge help.

Next, they moved on to the intersection of Marshall and Redding, where they had completed construction the day before. Walls were set up to help get the massive herd from the quarry to turn the corner, an RV and other vehicles behind them to add additional strength to the blockade. Rick quickly explained what he had already said to the group the day before, that three of them would be stationed behind the wall ready to fire flares when the herd approached, drawing their attention around the bend in the road.

After walking half the day, they finally reached the quarry. Thea had only heard about the number of walkers trapped inside… _seeing_ and _hearing_ them was an entirely different experience. She couldn't believe that this many of the dead had managed to accumulate in one place, or that they hadn't come across this sooner. The quarry was packed full, the walkers inside barely having any wiggle room. Some of them had gone up the ramp like road that was currently blocked off by two semi-trucks, one of which was teetering on the edge of the cliff.

They were lucky it hadn't toppled off the side yet.

Two semis were parked at the entrance to the quarry where the group stood. They were facing opposite directions, parked at an angle, but their trailers were tight together at the ends. A line of walkers had formed and one was trying its hardest to force its way through the tiny gap. Blood smears on the white trailer walls indicated that at least one other walker had managed the feat, but it wasn't an easy task.

Rick climbed on top of one of the semis and called down to them. "I know this is insane, but this is an insane world. We have to come for them before they come for us, it's that simple." He turned to gaze at the massive herd, lifting a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. When he faced them again, he continued: "This is where it all starts tomorrow. Tobin gets in the truck, opens the exit and we're off. He hops out, catches up with his team at red staying on the west side of the road. Daryl gets on his bike—."

A rumbling sound from across the quarry interrupted his speech.

Sasha pointed to the trucks parked on the ramp. "You see that?"

Suddenly, metal groaned against rock. The semi perched on the cliffside began to slide, rocks rolling down and pelting walkers below. Seconds passed in slow motion and then everything came rushing back in full speed. The semi toppled over the cliff and the walkers were free.

"It's open! We gotta do this now!" Rick exclaimed, jumping off the semi. "We're doing this now! Tobin's group, get moving, go!"

Thea was standing between Daryl and Michonne and she felt her heart begin to race. Cat had been right when she said she felt something would go wrong on the dry run.

Carter protested. "No, Rick, we're not ready."

The sheriff ignored him. "Sasha, Abraham!" he called to the duo.

Sasha was already climbing into the driver's side of an older, red car that they would be using to lead the walkers away. Abraham ran for the passenger's side and turned to respond to Rick. "Damn straight, we'll do it live."

Rick nodded. "You meet Daryl at red. Let him take them through the gauntlet."

Sasha nodded to Daryl. "Yeah, we meet at red!"

"Go!" Rick yelled.

Glenn came up on Rick's left side. "Rick, I'll hit the tractor place." He suggested.

"Okay, who else?" he asked.

Heath stepped up to the plate, followed by Nicholas. Glenn and the latter exchanged a few heated words and then they were off.

Thea could feel the nervous energy in those around her, but they all seemed ready to go. All except Carter.

"Rick, this was supposed to be a dry run." He stated the obvious.

Once again, he was ignored. "Daryl, get ready."

Daryl lifted his crossbow and pointed it towards the gap between the two semis closest to them. The walker was still attempting to squeeze through to reach them, but it was having a hard time.

Carter was still protesting. "Rick, we haven't even gone through the whole plan."

Rick finally took the time to answer him. "We can't go back, we're finishing this." That was all he had to say to the man before walking away. "Tobin, you hit on my signal. They're headed for home. We don't have a choice. Get ready to hit the flares. Now!"

Four flares were fired into the air, one right after the other.

The walker that had been trying to squeeze through the gap made it through, the ragged edges of both trailers ripping its decaying flesh off in the process. The skin was left hanging like curtains on either side of a bony ribcage but the walker trudged forward without a care.

"Tobin, hit the truck!" Rick called.

The engine of one of the semis roared to life and Tobin pulled it forward, opening the slit for the line of walkers. Daryl shot the walker that had squeezed through in the head and it fell lifeless, the effort it had put into escaping now for nothing.

As the truck opened the exit, the herd was headed straight for them. Thea felt a tug on her sleeve and turned to find Daryl pulling her with him as he raced to where his bike was parked. She didn't have time to protest. He jumped on the bike first, standing so she could slide on behind him, and then revved the engine to gain the herd's attention.

Once he knew the walkers were attracted to the noise of his bike, he slowly pulled onto the road, keeping a pace that the herd could follow. Thea's hands gripped each side of his leather jacket tightly out of fear that she would somehow fall off despite the leisurely pace.

The walkie clipped to the right shoulder of Daryl's jacket came to life. " _You all have your assignments._ " Rick's voice came over the speaker. " _You know where to rendezvous. Daryl leads them out. Sasha and Abraham join him at the bottom of the hill. Glenn, you hit us when you take care of the walkers at the tractor place. That's the one thing we gotta get ahead of. Everybody, keep your heads. Just keep up."_

Daryl kept his distance from the herd, but also made sure to keep a slow pace that would make sure the walkers stayed interested. It was unnerving to be so close to a herd and _not_ be racing full speed away.

Over the radio, Sasha's voice came through. "We're at red at the bottom of the hill."

Daryl used his left hand to press the call button on his walkie. "All right, here comes the parade."

" _Glenn, you there yet?"_ Rick asked over the radio.

" _Almost. We'll have it handled before they get here. And we'll meet you at yellow."_ Glenn responded.

" _Copy that."_

The motorcycle slowly coasted over a hill and Thea spotted the red car Sasha and Abraham were riding in waiting on the side of the road for them. Daryl sent them a nod and they pulled out in front of the bike to join them in leading the walker parade.

Rick's voice was back in their ears. _"Glenn, you have to hurry. The noise would distract the herd right off the road. Talk to me."_

" _We're here."_ Glenn answered back.

Things were going to work out. They would handle this. She knew they would.

The bike sidled up on the right side of the car and they continued together for a few miles until they reached the yellow zone on Marshall and Redding. As they approached the walls, three flares fired into the sky in the direction they would be turning. As they began to loop around the bend, three more flares shot up. Daryl slowed the bike to go around the curve, using his left leg to walk it along and keep them upright. The red car followed a little behind them and Thea turned to see if the walkers were on the trail.

Thankfully, the walkers were taking the bait and following them as the group had hoped they would. _This was going to work_.

They cleared the corner and Daryl stopped the bike, using both legs as balance as he turned to watch the herd. Thea could hear some of the walkers smacking hard against the walls as they moved through the corner. Daryl revved the bike's engine to keep the dead from trying to go through the walls. More flares shot overhead and it looked like the herd would clear the corner without problem.

They continued driving.

* * *

Thea wasn't sure how long they had been riding along with the herd when Rick's voice came through the radio on Daryl's jacket.

" _Tobin, they're breaking off."_

The other man responded quickly. _"What do you want us to do?"_

" _Fire your guns and draw 'em back."_

There was a moment of silence and then in the distance Thea could hear gunshots ringing out.

" _It's working. The gunfire is bringing them back on the road_." Tobin spoke after a minute or two of gunfire.

Rick agreed. _"You got them, Tobin."_

" _Copy that. What was that screaming?"_

Thea hadn't heard any screaming, but with the near deafening growls of the herd and the revving of Daryl's bike most of the other sounds around them were masked. She hoped everyone was okay.

" _That was Carter. He got bit right in the face. I stopped him._ " Rick explained.

Thea's breath hitched in surprise. Carter had been annoying, but she hadn't wanted him to die. This mission may have been going well for now, but she had the feeling things weren't going to end that way. She just hoped that no one else would lose their lives in the process of saving Alexandria from the quarry walkers.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, a horn blared from the distance. It was loud enough that they could hear it over the walkers and Thea turned her head to figure out where it was coming from.

Her heart sank.

The horn was coming from Alexandria.

* * *

 **A/N: Cat** _ **did**_ **say that she had a bad feeling about the dry run. And she** _ **did**_ **say she felt like she would never see Thea again. What do you guys think is going to happen on the run? What do you think is going to happen in Alexandria? Who is sad that we only have a few more episodes of season seven left?**

 **Please review if you have the time!**


	27. The Kill

**A/N: This chapter is a bit different, as it is not from Thea's point of view and Thea isn't in it at all. It is shorter, but I hope you guys don't mind that I mixed things up a bit with this one!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

Catherine Ellis was not a happy camper. Hank had barely slept the night before; after Thea had left he had woken up crying from a nightmare. The same nightmare he kept having: his father showing up as one of the dead, eating them alive. Cat had rocked the toddler all night and reassured him that she would never let anything happen to him, but it still took hours to get him to settle down. In the end, she had only gotten a couple of hours of sleep with a small foot kicking her all night long.

When morning came, she was quick to get moving. She wanted to see her sister off before she left on the dry run with the group, something in her gut told her that she was never going to see Thea again despite the older woman's reassurances. Getting Henry ready and dropping him off at the school had taken longer than usual, though, and by the time she had reached the gates, the group was gone.

The day would only go downhill from there.

She had helped Eric get some things done around Alexandria for most of the day, but around 2:30 in the afternoon things changed.

As she waved goodbye to Eric and they parted ways, Enid came racing down the street towards her, a wide-eyed look on her face.

"Cat, hey!" She exclaimed, skidding to a stop in front of her and panting.

The blonde frowned. "Enid? What's wrong?" She wondered, motherly instincts kicking in. She had always felt a little maternal towards the girl, ever since she had arrived at Alexandria covered in blood and grime and all alone. Her parents had died out on the road, and Catherine felt like she should take care of her.

Catching her breath, the younger girl swallowed hard. "Henry started throwing up in class. Teach sent me to come get you, she doesn't want any of the other kids getting sick."

Her stomach dropped. A sick child was never fun, especially nowadays when medication wasn't so easily available. She nodded and ran a hand over her face tiredly. "Okay," she sighed, nodding again. She hadn't quite finished what she had wanted to get done before school was out today, but she didn't have any other choice.

Enid led the way back to the garage where school was held and the whole way Cat couldn't help but feel like something worse than Hank getting sick was coming. Whether it had anything to do with the gut-wrenching feeling she had about Thea on the dry run or something else wasn't clear.

* * *

She was holding her breath as she slowly closed the door to the bedroom. Hank was finally sleeping away, a cold rag on his forehead to help with his temperature, and after the struggle it took getting him down she didn't want to make a single noise for fear that it would wake him.

All signs pointed to a stomach bug and she just hoped that Thea would make it back soon so she could check to confirm.

There was no point in allowing Hank's illness to get in the way of what she needed to get done; he was sleeping so now was as good a time as any to finish things around the house. Her mother always said the key to motherhood was multitasking.

She stayed quiet as she went down the hall towards Enid's room to check for dirty laundry. The girl was usually good about doing her own laundry and cleaning up after herself, not wanting to put her mess on other people; she was an independent young lady. Sometimes, however, Cat would do her laundry just because she could, and because it made her feel good to take care of the girl.

She was a selfish person indeed.

The basket in Enid's room was only half full, but she grabbed it anyway. She took it downstairs and threw the clothes in the washing machine before heading for the kitchen. It still blew her mind that she was living in one of the houses she had dreamed of moving into back in the old world. She could recall driving around neighborhoods like Alexandria when she was pregnant, Thea in the passenger seat as they concocted different futures in different houses.

Her dream had been to move in with her husband, Kyle, and they would start a large family together. Eventually, when Thea realized that they were two peas in a pod who could never be separated she would move in with them and they would all live happily ever after.

But Kyle wasn't here anymore. Cat wanted to believe that he was still alive and that he had managed to survive this hellish world, but she simply had no clue. Part of her pictured him coming in through the front door with that stunning grin of his and those warm, brown eyes. She wanted him to kiss her in that way that made her laugh and fog up his glasses, wanted to run her hands through his thick, dark brown hair and scrub her nails against his scalp the way he liked her to, the way that made him chuckle.

Hoping that Hank would be hungry when he woke up, she filled a pot with water and set it on the stove to boil. There was a box of macaroni and cheese in the pantry that Aaron had scavenged for her, even if Henry didn't want it they could save it and reheat it later.

Just as the water began to steam, tiny bubbles rolling up to the surface as if to warn that boiling would soon begin, a shriek came from somewhere down the block. She flinched, startled by the unexpected noise, and rushed to the window. Perhaps one of the dead had managed to sneak into the walls and had attacked someone, or maybe it was something… _more._ Something _worse._

The latter appeared to be the answer.

Down the street, Cat watched in horror as an unknown man stood over one of the women who lived in the gaudy purple house. She lay in the grass screaming as he drove a spear down into her chest. Cat's hand flew to cover her mouth as she gasped, eyes welling up from both shock and terror. What was happening?

More strangers filled the street brandishing various weapons. They cut down any Alexandrian who was in their path and barged into houses. Screaming filled the neighborhood, they were everywhere.

They were getting closer to _her_ house.

Forgetting about the pan on the stove, she stumbled to the counter by the fridge and yanked a large knife from the knife block. Her hand was trembling, her heart pounding hard against her ribcage. She couldn't catch her breath, but that was the last thing on her mind; she needed to lock the doors.

The back door was right by the kitchen and she rushed towards it, turning the lock into place quickly. She shut the blinds on the window and hunkered low to the floor to move towards the front door.

The thumping of boots on the porch had her freezing in place. _Oh god. Oh no._ She whimpered in her head, listening to the footfalls on the boards outside. She lowered herself down onto her knees in case whoever was out there tried to peek in through the windows, knife poised in her shaking hand and stomach in knots.

They were getting closer to the front door. She wouldn't be able to reach it in time to lock it, and even if she could they could easily hear the deadbolt turn. What could she do but hide and hope for some sort of miracle?

From where she was on the floor, Cat let out a terrified whimper as a shadow fell upon the small window on the front door. Tears she hadn't realized had bubbled to the surface slipped down her cheeks. Why was this happening?

The doorknob began to turn and snapped her out of her terrified trance. She scrambled on her hands and knees across the floor and hid behind the kitchen island, clutching the knife close to her chest and trying her hardest to keep her heavy breathing quiet. Maybe if she could keep from being spotted then the intruder would leave.

She wished she was stupid enough to believe that.

Someone was inside the house now and she had to resist the urge to peak around the island. She was sure whoever it was would see her whether she moved or not, though, and so she didn't really have any other choice but to slowly inch her way towards the opposite end of the island. Hopefully she could sneak into the pantry or a closet down the hall and wait it out.

"Momma?" A little voice called from the top of the stairs.

Her gasp was audible. How had she forgotten about Henry? And had the intruder heard him call for her?

The answer was yes. The footfalls came rapidly through the kitchen towards the hallway that led to the stairs. She couldn't let them get to Hank, she'd die before she let that happen, and so as they rounded the kitchen island, she swung the knife outwards. It sliced across a blue jean covered calf and sent the man to his knees with a cry of pain, or surprise. Probably a bit of both.

He was dirty, like he had been rolling in soot, and his hair stood on end on its own in a wild look. When he turned to face his attacker, she was met with wild green eyes and an angry sneer. Most surprising, was the large 'W' that scarred his forehead; it had been carved into his flesh long ago.

With an animalistic growl, he lunged for her. Cat shrieked in surprise and attempted to dodge him, but he grabbed her around the waist and shoved her into the cabinets on the opposite side of the island. She swung the knife again and the blade cut into his cheek, angering him further.

"Momma?" Hank called again, closer this time.

She couldn't have him see this. As the man grabbed her by the wrist to stop her swinging the knife a third time, she turned and yelled as loud as she could.

"HENRY, GO BACK TO YOUR ROOM!" she demanded. When he began to protest, she spoke again. "GO, PLEASE GO!"

She could hear his little feet racing back to his room and then the door slammed shut, about as hard a toddler could slam a door.

She wiggled her arm between her body and the man's, using strength she didn't know she had to shove him off her. He fell backwards into the island and Cat scrambled to her feet, moving towards the hallway. As she reached the open doorway, a hand gripped the back of her shirt and yanked her backwards. She went sprawling across the kitchen floor, the man following with her.

In the struggle, she had dropped the knife. It had skidded across the floor and now lay by the back door. Her only weapon now too far away for her to use it.

"Your stupid kid is mine now." The man growled at her. He was on his way out of the kitchen, she couldn't let him get to Hank.

She scrambled to her feet and charged at him, grabbing him around the waist and using her full body weight to pull him away from the doorway. They landed together in a heap of limbs and she twisted around until she was on top of him. As she drew her arm back to punch him, he produced a small pocket knife and in a flash, it was embedded abdomen.

Cat screamed, white hot pain spreading across her torso as he dug the knife in deeper. He flipped her onto her back, twisting the knife further into her and grinning like he was eating up her pained whimpers. He was enjoying this more than any normal person would enjoy stabbing someone.

The pain was unreal, the worst pain she had felt since she'd broken her leg in the accident that had put her on Aaron and Eric's radar. Pain almost worse than childbirth had been. Something clicked in her head. _Childbirth._ She couldn't give up, couldn't lay here and take this pain. She had more than herself to think about, to save.

With less strength than she would have preferred, but just enough to get him off her, Cat threw her fist in her attacker's face. He was startled enough that he lost his grip on the knife and fell backwards. It gave her enough room to weakly climb to her knees, because getting on her feet was not happening anytime soon, and she searched for a weapon.

The pan was still going on the stove and would be boiling by now. She grabbed it with a shaking hand and pulled it off the burner, whimpering as her movement irritated the knife still stuck in her stomach. In one move, she dumped the water over the man's face and shoulders.

His screams of anguish filled the kitchen and he tumbled onto his back, hands moving to cradle his now pink skin as if that would help the burning. She crawled over him and raised the pot over her head, swinging it down hard onto his face. His already crooked nose burst with blood, cracking under the weight of the still hot pot bottom. She swung it again and tried not to relish in the way his nose changed shape again.

This man was a monster. He had come here to hurt people, to _kill._ She could feel the blood seeping down her side and practically throwing in her face that she would more than likely be one of his victims, but she would be damned if she let him get to Hank or anyone else here. And yeah, maybe it wouldn't do much good only taking out one, but she had to do something.

She kept swinging. She swung until her arms grew weaker and then kept going. The man's face was practically unrecognizable, his blood and brains seeping out onto the white tile. She hit him a few more times until she was sure he wouldn't be coming back as one of those dead bastards, and then she dropped the pot. Her stomach was killing her, probably literally, and she clutched at the spot where the knife was protruding from and fell back against the cabinets to her right, her legs still draped over the man's.

Thea had told her the basics of first aid when this whole end of the world thing started. She knew enough to know that pulling the knife out like so many people did in movies was the worst thing you could do. She was already bleeding out, but removing it would make it happen faster. Thea would tell her to keep pressure on the wound, so she reached up to pull open the drawer to the left of her and pulled out a dish rag.

Wrapping it around the knife and against the wound, she gritted her teeth together and climbed to her feet. Now in an upright position, she had to hold on to the counter as a wave of dizziness threatened to put her on her ass again. Her blood mingled with the man's on the floor as she stepped over his lifeless body. A body she had taken the life from. She was a killer now.

She stumbled down the hallway towards the stairs, and as she was about to try her hardest to climb them, the front door swung open once more.

"Shit." She whispered harshly, not ready for another fight. She couldn't do it again, definitely not with a knife in her gut holding her back.

"Cat?"

It was Aaron. She breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't been sure if she could have made it up the stairs to Hank in the first place, and she was already feeling like passing out was a legitimate option for her. Aaron seemed to have perfect timing.

"Catherine, are you in here?" His voice was desperate. His footfalls moved through the kitchen, faltering at the island when he no doubt spotted the dead intruder. "Oh, my god." Came his whisper, and then he was rushing around the corner, skidding to a stop when he spotted her.

His skin was spotted in blood, his hand brandished a gun, and his wide eyes were locked on the knife still stuck inside her. "Oh no."

"We have to—we have to get H-Hank." She stammered, motioning up the stairs with one bloody hand. A weightless feeling overcame her suddenly, and she fell onto the first step with a groan.

Aaron came forward to hover over her, his hands reached out but he didn't touch her, almost like he didn't know where to even start. The knife wound would be a good place, but she wasn't exactly going to say it.

"Please, just get Henry." She begged him.

"Okay, okay, I will." He reassured her before he stepped around her and raced up the stairs. He disappeared out of sight and she could hear him speaking softly to her son, but she could only lay there and weakly hold her hands over her stomach and pray to whatever god that was listening that she could make it out of this alive.

That gut feeling she had been sensing the night before had been right. Only, her instincts all pointed to something bad happening to _Thea_ and now here she was, bleeding out on her staircase. People outside the house were dying. She could still hear them screaming, and she didn't know what to do. The whole world was falling apart.

Her vision was right.

She wasn't going to see Thea ever again.

* * *

She passed out. It was only inevitable considering the amount of blood she had lost. When she came to, it was to Aaron shaking her shoulders lightly and calling her name.

When her eyes opened, it took a long moment for them to adjust. When the fog cleared, Aaron was standing over her with a creased brow. Behind him, Hank stood against the wall with his thumb in his mouth and tears in his eyes. He knew she didn't like when he sucked his thumb, but he only did it when he was upset; given the current situation, she'd let it slide.

"Cat, you need to stay awake. We have to get you to the clinic." Aaron spoke softly, gaining her attention once again.

She attempted a weak nod and allowed him to help her sit up. The move caused the knife to shift and she let out whine, her hand clutching at the front of Aaron's shirt as if that would help her in any way.

"I can't carry you and still be able to use my gun if I need to…" he muttered, more to himself than to her. He sighed heavily and glanced around for an answer, not expecting that it would come from the toddler behind him.

"I have a wagon." He said in quiet, scared voice.

Aaron turned to watch him for a long moment before nodding. "Great, that's a great idea, Henry." He praised the child.

The two of them disappeared quickly and when they returned they brought along the red wagon that Hank often used to drag around whatever toys he was playing with daily. It was large enough for someone of her size to sit in, and Aaron came over to her and supported her under the arms to help her into it.

But she couldn't sit up, she was too weak. Each time they pulled her into an upright position, she fell over again. There was nothing to prop up against. In the end, they laid her down with her legs hanging off the end.

She kept pressure on the wound, or as much pressure as she could muster the strength to use, and he pulled her in the red wagon down the street.

Henry stuck close to her side, clutching the wagon with the hand that wasn't in his mouth.

She was crying. Silent tears spilling from her eyes.

She didn't want to die.

She didn't want Henry to watch her die.

She didn't want Thea to come back to a dead sister.

…she lost consciousness before they reached the clinic.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I wanted to show you guys what was happening in Alexandria instead of just keeping you guessing. The next chapter we will be back with Thea and Daryl and the others!**

 **As for that season finale…I don't even know. I'm not going to say specifics in case any of you guys haven't watched yet, but I am definitely shook from that episode and eager to see what will come next season! If you guys want to chat about it, feel free to come into my PM! :)**

 **Please review if you have the time!**


	28. Spiderwebs

**A/N: EXCITING NEWS! As of today, this story is officially one year old! To celebrate, this chapter is extra-long and filled with lots of action for you guys! I just want to thank all of you who have stuck with this story for this past year and all of you who continue to review and get excited about new updates. You guys are the true MVPs!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

" _What was that screaming?"_ Tobin's voice came through the walkie clipped to Daryl's shoulder.

Thea hadn't heard any screaming, but with the near deafening growls of the herd and the revving of Daryl's bike most of the other sounds around them were masked. She hoped everyone was okay.

" _That was Carter. He got bit right in the face. I stopped him."_ Rick explained.

Thea's breath hitched in surprise. Carter had been annoying, but she hadn't wanted him to die. This mission may have been going well for now, but she had the feeling things weren't going to end that way. She just hoped that no one else would lose their lives in the process of saving Alexandria from the quarry walkers.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, a horn blared from the distance. It was loud enough that they could hear it over the walkers and Thea turned her head to figure out where it was coming from.

Her heart sank.

The horn was coming from Alexandria.

"The hell is that?" Daryl asked, though it was more than likely to himself than to her.

Thea's mind was racing trying to come up with possible reasons as to why someone would turn on a horn, especially one that loud. Was someone from home trying to signal that they were in trouble? Or was it the battle cry of someone attacking Alexandria? Either way, she wanted to get back there fast; she had to get to Cat and Hank.

Over the radio, Rick called out. _"Tobin, it's not stopping. Light it up. You hear me?"_ the only response he got was static. _"Tobin?"_

Still, no response. Daryl grabbing the radio with his left hand and spoke up. "Rick."

" _I'm here._ "

"What's going on back there?" Daryl demanded to know.

After a moment, the sheriff answered. " _Half of them broke off. They're going toward Alexandria."_

 _Yeah, no shit._ Thea thought to herself.

In the car next to them, Abraham spoke into his own walkie. " _Towards you?"_

" _We ran ahead. There's a horn or something. Loud, coming from the east. It's not stopping."_

As if he was reading her mind, Daryl hit the call button on the radio. "I'm gonna gas it up, turn back." He stated.

Thea felt relief. They could get back to Alexandria in time if they moved fast enough, and Daryl seemed to be on the same page as she was.

Rick disagreed. " _We have it. You keep going."_

Despite the fact that the sheriff couldn't see him, Daryl shook his head. He was driving with one hand, the other still gripping the radio on his jacket. "They're gonna need our help." He protested.

" _Gotta keep the herd moving."_ Rick argued.

"Not if it's going down, we don't." Daryl continued. He was thinking the same thing Thea was: Alexandria was under attack.

Thea was not going to sit back and let whatever was happening continue to happen. If she sat back and did nothing and something terrible happened to the people of Alexandria, she would feel terrible. She was the doctor and they might need her; Denise knew the basics and she had plenty of reading material to help, but this could easily be something way above her level of expertise.

Rick had a good point though. " _The rest of that herd turns around, the bad back there gets worse."_

It was true. It was bad enough that half the herd was turning around, add in whatever was going down and having the _entire_ herd on top of the community would literally rip the neighborhood apart. They weren't equipped for a group of walkers this size, that was why they had planned this run in the first place.

" _Daryl?"_ Rick asked when he didn't get an immediate response from the biker.

In front of her, Daryl nodded his head slowly. The half of his face visible to her showed he was lost in thought. "Yeah, I heard ya." The hand that had been holding the radio dropped into his lap.

The silence that fell was heavy. Thea found herself so conflicted with the situation at hand that she couldn't even hear the horn or the herd anymore. Her ears were ringing. What were they going to do?

She was snapped out of her haze by the abrupt break of the horn. Had it stopped because the danger had passed or had the need for it simply passed? What the hell was going on back home? Were Catherine and Henry okay or would she return to find them gone forever?

Daryl sidled the bike closer to the car they were riding beside. "Hey, we gone five miles out yet?" He asked Abraham.

The ginger leaned over to glance at the mileage on the car and then stuck his head out the window. "Give or take some yardage. You got a reason for asking?"

"Next intersection we're gonna spin around and go back." Daryl replied with a nod.

Sasha's head came into view from across the car. "The plan is to go fifteen more." She objected.

Could they make it work with only going five miles out or would that ruin all of their effort?

"Yeah, I'm gonna change that." Daryl was saying. "Five's gonna have to work."

The look on Abraham's face told them he wasn't exactly pleased with this development. "The magic number's twenty. That's the mission. That's making sure they're off munching on infirm raccoons the rest of their undead lives instead of any of us."

"You want to go, we can't stop you. But without you, _they_ could stop us." Sasha added.

She was right. If Daryl and Thea took off, something could happen to Abe and Sasha. The herd could overtake them, devour them, and no one would see them again. They had a mission to complete, but the worry that had her chest tightening was pulling her in the opposite direction.

God, what were they going to do?

A minute passed, and then Daryl made the decision for the both of them. "Nah, I got faith in ya."

The engine of the motorcycle revved up and they began to speed away. Behind them, Thea heard Sasha and Abraham call out in protest:

"Daryl!" Sasha yelled.

"Don't do it, man!" Abraham protested at the same time.

There was no response from the archer. As he sped down the road ahead of the herd and the car, Thea was forced to inch closer to his back so she could get a more secure grip of the sides of his jacket. She was sure he wouldn't let her fall off, but that didn't stop her palms from sweating with nerves. Maybe it was the speed they were going at, or maybe it was still worry about those at Alexandria.

They rode faster and kept going until they reached the next intersection. As Daryl had told Sasha and Abraham, he turned right at the intersection with the intentions of turning around and heading back to Alexandria.

They came out of the trees and were speeding down an open road with tall, green pastures on both sides when the radio crackled to life again.

" _Glenn, I'm in place by my best guess. You guys make it back yet?"_ Rick's voice came through. Static was the only reply. _"Glenn?"_ Nothing. _"Tobin, you there?"_ Once again, there was no response. _"Daryl?"_

Daryl grabbed at the radio on his jacket. "I'm here."

" _Won't be long now. They're almost here. I'll get them going your way again."_

" _How 'bout that, Daryl?"_ Sasha commented through the walkie, her voice clearly indicating she was annoyed with the archer for leaving. " _He's gonna be coming our way."_

Rick didn't pick up on the tension, or at least he didn't care. " _There's gunfire coming from back home."_

Thea's eyes widened and she felt her stomach drop. Gunfire meant something was happening, whether it was a walker attack or another group of people…clearly those left at home were fighting back. Her heart raced out of fear for her sister.

" _We gotta sit with it and hope they can handle it. I think they can. They have to. We keep going forward for them. Can't turn back 'cause we're afraid."_ Rick continued.

Abraham's next words felt like a jab towards the two on the bike. _"We ain't afraid."_

Thea _was_ afraid. And maybe that made her weak, but her fear was warranted. If they wanted to judge her for that fear, then so be it.

Their fearless leader had more to say. _"This…is for them. Going back now before it's done, that'd be for us. The herd has to be almost here."_

He was right, as always. Thea knew it and yet she didn't want to admit it. Daryl had turned around for them, not Alexandria, and doing so might hurt them in the long run. But, it wasn't like she had the option of going back to help Abraham and Sasha on her own; she didn't have a way of getting there.

The radio crackled as if Rick had more to say, but before he could speak gunfire came through instead. Both Thea and Daryl flinched at the sound, the archer reaching for the radio.

"Rick? Rick?" He called out to the man. With no immediate response, Daryl squeezed the brakes on the handlebars of the bike, sending the bike into a screeching halt that jerked Thea forward, her chest smacking hard into his back with a groan from the doctor.

He didn't seem bothered by it. "Rick? Rick?" He asked again.

Nothing.

Daryl hung his head as he panted.

"We have to go back." Thea spoke up for the first time since the horn had blared back home. "He needs us. Abe and Sasha need us."

He was still panting, but he gave a barely noticeable nod. Standing with his legs still straddled on each side of the bike, he twisted his head around to face the way they had come from. If they turned back now, they might be able to make it back to the main road before Sasha and Abraham passed the intersection.

The same thought crossed Daryl's mind, evidently. He sat back on the bike and quickly turned them around before taking off in the direction of the herd. The bike reached a speed they hadn't gotten to earlier, but Thea didn't mind. This felt like the right thing to do.

With the new speed, it didn't take long for them to reach the intersection again. As they approached, the car that carried their friends was there. They were still keeping the slow pace and the giant herd was still following behind like they were being led by the pied piper.

Daryl turned onto the main road and snaked up beside the car. And they were riding again.

* * *

Her thighs hurt. The joint where her leg met her hip was cramped up on one side. She had never ridden a motorcycle for so long before and her body was protesting being stuck in the position for a lengthy amount of time. Her grip on Daryl's sides loosened considerably, her arms more exhausted than expected considering she had only been using them to hold on to Daryl.

When the hell was this going to be over?

Sasha seemed to read her mind. _"All right."_ She called over the radio.

"That's twenty?" Daryl questioned.

" _It will be. 642 is a mile ahead. We gotta put distance between us and them before the turn off."_ The other woman explained.

" _So, floor it." Abe added._

 _Thank god._ Thea thought to herself, trying not to show how happy she was about this development.

"All right, try to keep up." Daryl teased them, revving the bike engine.

Sasha's soft chuckle was heard. " _Daryl, have you looked at this car? Believe me, we want to get back there, too."_

The bike and the car sped up until the herd was left behind in their dust. It was an enormous relief not to have to hear their growls and snarls any longer; being so close to so many walkers was unnerving.

They turned left at the sign for highway 642 and continued on with Daryl and Thea riding in front of Abraham and Sasha. The highway took them into a small-town Thea had seen on a map before, but the name was hard to recall. As they reached city limits, however, it was like all hell broke loose.

Suddenly, gunfire broke out. Bullets ricocheted off the metal of Daryl's bike, missing them both by a hair. Thea curse aloud and instinctively ducked down, her arms wrapped around Daryl's middle so she could pull herself closer and keep her grip on him despite the shots coming their way.

She could hear the car behind them being riddled by bullets as well.

Daryl had ducked down, also, and he was trying his hardest to keep the bike steady. Up ahead, the road was blocked, so he quickly turned onto the road to the left of them.

Switching from paved road to gravel at such a high speed was not a good idea, however, and the bike wobbled before tipping out from beneath them. They fell together in a heap, the bike dragging them along several feet.

Thea could feel the skin of her left arm tearing open in a serious case of road rash. Her left leg was trapped under Daryl and her ankle cried out in protest. Worst of all, she had thrown her arm out to catch herself and in the process her little finger had gotten caught up under her weight.

She felt it snapping into an awkward angle.

Daryl was on his feet before she could so much as cry out in pain and he stood the bike up quickly. "C'mon!" he called out to her frantically, mounting the bike.

She struggled to her feet and jumped onto the motorcycle behind him, wrapping her right around him tightly and tucking her head into his back as two cars came chasing after them, firing shots in their direction. They gave chase as Daryl took off, weaving back and forth to keep from getting hit.

Thea had her left arm tucked close to her chest, a glance down showed that her little finger was now bent at a ninety-degree angle and she bit her lip to keep from whining in pain. They had bigger issues than her broken finger right now.

The bike cut between two large trash bins, dodging a few walkers on the other side. There wasn't enough room for the cars to follow them and the first crashed hard into a parked bus. It gave them the time they needed to get away and Daryl cut down a dirt road leading into the woods.

The second car, an SUV, managed to squeeze through the gap between bins and followed them.

Abraham and Sasha were nowhere in sight, probably chased off by the other shooters, and Thea could only hope that they would make it to safety without suffering any serious injuries.

Daryl managed to speed up and lose the SUV, but they could still hear its engine following after them. Thea wasn't sure if they could lose them, but Daryl seemed to know what he was doing. He cut into the trees to the left of the road and moved far enough through the brush that they wouldn't be seen when the SUV passed by, stopping the bike behind a tree and waiting.

Thea's arm was killing her. Her shirt sleeve had ripped and she could see blood seeping through the tears in the fabric. There was an awful throbbing in her hand where her little finger was bent out of shape, and she knew she needed to set it as soon as they were somewhere safe.

Back on the road, the vehicle pursuing them went roaring past their hiding spot and continued down the road. Daryl waited for several long moments until it was out of sight and then he pulled the bike out of hiding and crossed the road into the other side of the woods where a small trail was open.

He reduced the speed of the motorcycle to a crawl as they moved through the trees. To her startled realization, the green and healthy vegetation suddenly disappeared, replaced by charred and dead woods. Someone had set the forest on fire, killing what appeared to be miles of it.

The bike was almost to a standstill now and she could tell that they were stopping. She slid off the side before it managed to come to a complete halt and her legs gave out before she so much as took a step. She collapsed onto her knees just as Daryl tipped the bike onto its left side, falling onto his back and panting from exhaustion.

Next to where he rested, a walker was laying melted to the ground. It reminded her of the walkers they had come across in Atlanta when they had gone to rescue Beth from Grady Memorial. This one, however, was wearing a motorcycle helmet; its growls muffled by the hard plastic.

Turning her attention to the injury that was hurting her the most, Thea lifted a shaking hand to prod at the awkwardly bent finger. It was the wrong idea. She let out a groan of pain and pulled her hand away, letting it hover over the finger as if that alone would help the situation. It hurt like a bitch.

She couldn't very well leave the finger at a ninety-degree angle, though, and so she took in a deep breath to gather her strength and held it in so that maybe she wouldn't scream.

Gripping the finger gingerly, she counted to three and then quickly snapped it back into place. The pain was excruciating. She released the breath with a high-pitched whimper and cradled the hand close to her chest, squeezing her eyes shut as she attempted to regain her composure.

When she opened them, she found Daryl watching her closely. His temple was bleeding from where he had more than likely hit it on the ground when the bike had turned over.

Thea pulled her backpack off her back and dug into it for her first aid kit. She found what she needed inside and quickly wrapped her pinky and her ring fingers together; she could make a better splint when they made it back to Alexandria.

"You okay?" She asked him once she had caught her breath.

He grunted in response and pulled himself to his feet without a word. It was understandable that he was frustrated considering they had just been shot at and chased away from Sasha and Abraham. Thea couldn't blame him for how he was behaving.

Packing up her first aid kit, she slipped the bag back onto her shoulders as he lifted the bike into an upright position again. There was no way she would be able to get back on it right now, though; when she stood, her own legs were practically jelly.

Instead, they walked further into the burnt forest. Daryl pushed the motorcycle along as she followed. When they reached a slope, he let the bike drop to the ground and grabbed at the walkie still attached to his jacket.

"Sasha? Abraham? You there?" He asked.

Static answered him.

Thea's eyes traveled to his left arm. It was in the same boat as hers was, only his appeared to be worse off. Blood was dripping down his arm and slipping off his fingers onto a skull that was resting by his foot, its jaw gaping wide.

"Your arm." She said, moving up beside him and reaching for it.

He removed his black, leather glove and then began to pull off his jacket to get a better view of the wounds on his arm. The material pulled at his scrapes in the process and he let out an involuntary whine before he had the jacket off and on the ground.

"Jesus." She sighed, more to herself than to him. His arm was shredded from just above his elbow down to his wrist. She had no doubt her own arm looked close to the same.

Before she could pull her backpack off to grab her kit, a twig snapped nearby, startling them both. Was it a walker? Was it one of the people who had shot at them? Thea's hand gripped the knife strapped to her leg.

Daryl was quick to grab his crossbow off the back of the bike and held it at the ready, motioning with his head for her to follow his lead. They silently slinked through the trees towards the sound, hoping to get the drop on whoever or whatever may be out there. The noise led them to a large tree and as they inched around it, they found two women hunkered against its base.

One of them was a skinny brunette, her hair pulled into a messy bun and the white tank top she wore hanging loose on her thin frame. The other, a blonde with a pixie cut who looked like she had been better fed. Both of them were covered in soot, probably from running around the burned down woods, and they shot to their feet with their hands up.

"You found us, okay?" the brunette spoke up and moved her body in front of the other woman protectively. "Here we are. We _earned_ what we took."

Thea had no idea what they meant by that, but before she could contemplate it further, a rustle came from behind her. She whipped around in time to catch sight of a man with blond hair sneaking up behind them. She ducked as he swung his gun at her in an attempt to knock her unconscious and called out to Daryl to get his attention.

In the process, the man seized her by the arm and pulled her back against his chest. The gun pressed against her temple threateningly as his attention shifted to the man wielding the crossbow.

"Drop it." Daryl growled, glaring over his bow at the stranger.

Thea barely had enough time to register the brunette woman's movement. She didn't get a chance to open her mouth to warn Daryl before the woman hit him over the back of the head with a rock. The archer slumped to the ground in a heap, and Thea felt her palms grow sweaty with nerves.

What was about to happen?

The man who held her pushed her forward slightly and then she felt his gun smack into the back of her own head. Her vision went black.

* * *

She went in and out of consciousness throughout the night. She was keenly aware that her hands were bound together, though this time they were in front of her, rather than behind. Her back was propped against a tree stump, her right shoulder brushed with Daryl's left as she breathed. They were both in trouble.

"Probably just other soldiers. Probably hate him, too." The man who had knocked her out was saying to the women as he tended to a fire.

She faded out and then when she came to, he was speaking again.

"We pick up Patty and we're gone, okay? This is the last day we gotta live like this."

Thea wanted to know what they were planning on doing with their captives, but she didn't dare speak up for fear of what they might do if they knew she was awake.

She stayed on edge the entire night, but with the way her head throbbed, sleep came against her will.

It was daylight when she regained consciousness. The back of her head ached something awful and for a moment she forgot she was a prisoner. Her temple was pressed against something hard and she realized that she had passed out against Daryl's bare shoulder. She groaned and shifted into an upright position; Daryl was still unconscious but their captors were awake.

"She's awake." The blonde woman stated to the others, nudging the brunette to gain her attention.

Thea stiffened as three pairs of eyes landed on her. What would they do to them? What were they doing out in the middle of a burnt forest?

The brunette woman stood, a water bottle in her hand, and slowly moved towards her. Her eyes studied the bound woman's face, more than likely taking in the bruising that was still a reminder of what Pete had done to her. She glanced towards Daryl before crouching down in front of Thea.

"Why are you with him? If he hits you once, he'll hit you again." She said in a voice that almost sounded like she cared.

Thea scoffed, eyes flickering in Daryl's direction. "He didn't do this to me, he would never…" she trailed off. She didn't owe them an explanation, but maybe if she gave them one they would grow sympathetic. "It was another asshole."

The other woman's eyes narrowed as if she was trying to figure out if Thea was telling the truth. "What happened to him?" she wondered.

 _The right thing…kind of._ She thought. Instead, she answered: "He's dead now." Vague and to the point. They didn't need to know the circumstances that lead to Pete's death.

"Good." The brunette stated simply. She unscrewed the lid on the water bottle and held it out to her. "Here, you must be thirsty."

Thea didn't move to take it. For all she knew, they had put something in the water and were hoping to poison her.

As if she sensed that was what Thea was thinking, the other woman chuckled shortly and took a gulp of the water to prove her wrong. "Happy?"

Without a word, Thea took the bottle in her bound hands and brought it to her lips. She took several long pulls of the liquid before handing it back. The water soothed her dry mouth, but only made her thirst for more. Something told her if she drank all of their water, they wouldn't be too happy with her.

Replacing the cap on the bottle, the brunette stood and reached down to grab Thea by the arm. She told her to get up, and Thea allowed her to help her to her feet. With Daryl still asleep, however, she worried that they would be separating them. She glanced back at him as the woman pulled her over to stand between herself and the blonde.

He was beginning to stir.

As his eyes fluttered open, the first place they landed was on Thea. He noted her bound hands and quickly found his own the same way, tugging against the ropes as if they would snap. The man who accompanied the women crouched down in front of him.

"Get up." He said. "Hey, get up." His gun went into Daryl's face threateningly. "We're moving. Here's the deal. You don't say shit and I don't kill you."

Thea wondered if they truly had intentions of killing either of them. Why would they offer her water if they didn't care whether they lived or died?

"I ain't who you think." Daryl grumbled in defiance.

The hammer was pulled back on the gun. "Say something else. Go ahead." The blond man growled.

Daryl fell silent, his steely eyes glaring into the gunmen's soul as if he could kill him with a look. The man took that as compliance and pulled him roughly to his feet, shoving him in the direction of the three women.

"Follow them."

They started walking. Thea was behind the women, in front of Daryl, and she began to wonder if there was a way out of this situation for them. She wondered if the plan was to kill them or keep them for something else. And would the man really shoot them or was he simply as scared as the women appeared to be?

The woman who had given Thea water pulled the bottle out of her back again. It was half full now that Thea had taken some, and they really should be conserving it, but the woman offered it to the blonde. "Here. Drink the rest." She said softly.

There was a level of care that the brunette held for the blonde that reminded Thea of herself and Cat. She had the feeling these two were sisters.

"We should save it." The blonde argued.

The bottle pressed into the blonde's hand. "We'll find some more. Drink. You're supposed to stay hydrated. It all works together."

 _Supposed to stay hydrated._ It wasn't simply saying she should drink, this was something more. A medical condition, perhaps?

"Yeah, it does." The blonde drank a fourth of the water before passing it back to the older woman.

She stopped walking and turned to Daryl, offering up the bottle as she had to Thea. "Have it."

Daryl ignored her, tried to step passed her. The man took the bottle and stepped in front of Daryl, pushing the water towards him.

"We don't need you falling down. Drink."

Reluctantly, Daryl took the bottle.

"They find us, maybe we give you to them, they let us call it even." The man explained the plan as if that alone made any sense.

Daryl drained half of the remaining contents of the bottle before silently holding it out to Thea. She shook her head in protest, telling him she had already had some, but he shook the bottle at her without a word. She took it and finished it off without further protest, knowing it would get her nowhere with him.

The man was speaking again as the brunette took the empty bottle from Thea. "You see, we're reasonable people. Everybody's got their code. You feel you gotta kneel, that's fair enough. We don't. Let's go."

As they continued moving through the charred woods, Thea began to wonder just who they thought they were working with. What did the man mean by kneel? Who were they supposed to have kneeled to in the first place? She debated on whether or not she should ask. If she spoke up, would the gun be shoved in her face the way it had been Daryl's? Would they actually give her a straight answer or ignore her? Her curiosity got the better of her.

"Who do you think we're working with?" she asked, glancing back at the man.

She didn't get an answer. Instead, the man merely scoffed as if she was trying to play dumb and he could see right through it. It was infuriating that he refused to even explain things to them, but it was clear he had decided they were who they weren't and he wasn't going to hear them out.

"I can't believe we're back." The blonde woman spoke up.

Thea wondered if it was to break the tension or if she just didn't like the silence.

"It's not home anymore, but it's better than where we were." Brunette answered.

Behind them, the man scoffed again. "This is a pit stop. We pick up Patty, nothing more than that."

That was the end of the conversation. It was clear that he was in charge here, but there was no malice in the way he spoke to them; he cared for them very deeply. Perhaps he simply didn't want them giving away too much information that might allow Thea and Daryl to lead whoever he feared right to them.

If only he would let them actually explain who they were, then maybe they could go their separate ways and forget they'd ever met.

The younger woman could only stay quiet for so long. A few minutes later, she spoke up again. "How'd you do it?" She wondered.

The man hesitated before answering. "You saw where we left the truck?"

"Mmhmm." She murmured.

"We opened the valve and drove all the way in from Farmview Road. Ran from the tree line till we got to the pavement. Lit up a matchbook from Sweetwater and dropped it in on the trail. Then we just ran for the car."

 _They_ had burned the forest. Why had they done it? Did it have anything to do with who they were running from? Wouldn't a fire have attracted attention rather than helped them?

Ahead of them, several bodies were charred to the ground. A few of them were walkers, their arms weakly reaching out as they noticed the five living, breathing humans. They were trapped here when the fire started, but were they human when they'd burned or walkers?

"Got in and the dead ones were there. They were beating on the hood, and then—and then boom! Knocked 'em on their asses and I took an axe to each one." The man answered her thoughts.

The brunette continued for him. "Then we just watched it go up. No more moans, no more of that wailing. It was just the fire, just burning them all away."

 _Damn._ Thea thought to herself, eyeing a walker as they passed.

"You did all this?" Daryl asked.

She nodded. "It was right at the start. Everything stopped—the TV, the radio. We were here. The forest was full of them. And the other ones in town, they were drawn to it. They just walked right into the flames. We got most of them. Thought we ended it for us, and she…" she pointed to the blonde. "…was in DC. We thought everyone was fighting them wherever they were."

She trailed off and the man sighed. "Yeah, we thought that was what everybody was doing. Fighting it. That we'd all win together. We were stupid." He let go of Daryl's arm and continued on ahead of him.

The archer stopped walking and watched them move forward, Thea noticing a second before the others did.

"Y'all don't think you're being stupid right now?" Daryl asked, making Thea roll her eyes inwardly. That probably wasn't the wisest question to ask someone who had tied them up and put a gun to their heads.

Said gun was out of the back of the man's pants now and he stalked towards Daryl, pointing it in his face. "Are you saying I should kill you?" he asked. "I mean it, are you gonna try and pull something on us? Are we just being thick here by not removing all doubt? Right now, by me not pulling this trigger, is that a mistake? I'm serious. I really wanna know. You made the choice to kill for someone else, to have them own you for a roof over your head and three squares, so maybe I'm not considering all aspects here. You tell me, am I being stupid?"

Over the man's shoulder, Daryl's eyes met Thea's. She shook her head slowly, hoping that he could read how desperate she was for him to just go with whatever was happening for the time being. She couldn't handle it if they shot him right in front of her.

"No." Daryl finally answered. "Look, I got somewhere to be. We can make a deal, I can help you out."

The man shook his head. "You're one of them. You're hurt and you're alone and you'd say anything."

"He's not alone." Thea protested firmly. Whatever he was going to do to Daryl, he'd have to do to her too.

He ignored her, which seemed to be the theme of the day. "We should have never trusted you people to begin with." He motioned with the gun for Daryl to keep walking. "Go on. Keep moving."

Daryl slipped passed him and did as he was told, though he didn't look very happy with it; Thea couldn't blame him for being displeased, but she couldn't help but wish he would just go with it for now.

They kept moving.

* * *

Sometime later, after walking for what seemed like forever, Thea was growing tired of playing along. She began to wonder if they were being marched to their deaths. Part of her wanted to try and make a break for it, the other told her to just stay put and not draw any further attention to herself. Maybe they would let them go eventually.

Her wrists were aching from the rope and she twisted her hands around in hopes of loosening it just a little. She still had scars from when Gareth and Gina had hogtied her, both on her wrists and her ankles.

The thought of the Terminites sent a shock of fear through her brain, triggering her fight or flight reflex. She struggled against the ropes without a word, trying to keep her thoughts to herself despite the fact that she could feel a full-fledged panic attack nearing.

The last time she had been tied up, a friend had died.

The brunette woman's hand appeared out of nowhere, landing gently on her bound wrists. "Stop struggling, it will only make it hurt worse." She said quietly, as if she didn't want the others to hear.

Thea could tell the woman didn't enjoy having prisoners, but that she thought it was necessary for their survival. She was doing this for herself and her family, but she clearly didn't think about the fact that Daryl and Thea were family, too. That they had more family waiting for them to get home.

Whoever they thought they were, they were under the impression that they were only out for themselves.

The trees broke suddenly and they were standing at the tree line. A few yards ahead there was a chain-link fence, about eight feet high and keeping a courtyard full of walkers separated from the woods. There were several trucks and other various vehicles parked inside, appearing to have been abandoned quite some time ago.

"Son of a bitch!" The man exclaimed.

The older woman dropped the brown duffle bag she'd been carrying the whole time and all three of them moved to the fence in shock.

"Patty."

Who was Patty? Was she one of the walkers down below or someone who was supposed to be waiting here for them?

"She could be…" The brunette sighed.

The man shook his head. "No, she's gone."

"Then we make another plan."

"Yeah, we get outta here, that's the plan."

Brunette nodded. "Then that's the plan."

Beside her, the blonde whispered meekly. "You guys didn't have to do this for me."

As they were preoccupied by their failed plan, Daryl nudged Thea's arm with his hands to get her attention. They were far enough away from their captors that they could run. He motioned with his head to the woods and she nodded. This was their chance.

"It was the right thing for all of us." The first woman was saying.

The blonde protested. "This was the right thing? Even if just you guys went back now, if you just told them that it was me…"

"No, we'll find a way."

"Just think about it." Blondie pleaded.

Her sister refused firmly. "No."

The man held a hand out between them. "Look, maybe we don't get as far, but we'll get—hey!" As he had been speaking, the younger woman stumbled in place before collapsing to the grass. "Hey, hey, hey."

The brunette caught her. "Tina, hey!" She cried desperately.

The doctor in Thea grew worried despite the fact that they had taken them hostage, but Daryl saw it as their chance. He pushed her towards the woods and snatched their duffel bag off the ground. Together, they turned and took off into the trees, sprinting because their lives depended on it.

Behind them, the man yelled and fired his gun in hopes of hitting them. They kept moving until they were sure they were far enough away. There was an overturned tree that they jumped over before falling to the forest floor to hide behind it, laying side-by-side and panting for breath as they listened for any following footsteps.

It was silent save for their breathing, and Thea could swear her heart was beating loud enough for them to hear as well. Daryl managed to pull his hands from the ropes and reached over to quickly untie hers before he went for the duffel bag.

He dug around inside and produced the radio that had been taken from them when they had been unconscious. He turned the dial and pressed the call button. "Sasha, Abraham, you there?"

There was only static.

Daryl put the radio down and rested against the log again, staying out of sight.

"Shit." Thea sighed heavily, rubbing at her wrist.

They laid beside each other for a minute as if they were trying to figure out what to do next. Neither of them had really caught their breath yet, but it was more from the stress of the situation than from running.

 _Snap!_ A twig somewhere close broke under a foot and startled them. They both turned to peek over the tree trunk, and Thea sighed with relief when she saw it was just a walker. The others hadn't found them.

Still, there was a walker coming right at them and they didn't have their weapons on them. Daryl reached into the duffel bag and struggled to pull his crossbow from it. As the walker grew closer, Thea began to look around for a branch she could use to fight it off in case he couldn't get the weapon out in time.

Luckily, just as it was about to step over the tree, Daryl finally ripped the crossbow out of the bag and whipped around, firing an arrow into its skull. It fell to the ground with dead weight and Thea sighed softly. She was too tired for this shit.

Reaching into the bag, she found her backpack inside. She checked that the things she'd packed were still inside and then put it on her back. Next, she reached into the duffel for her hunting knife and replaced it in the holster on her leg.

As she did so, a white cooler was uncovered in the bag. She froze, eyes trained on the words printed across the front. "Daryl." She called for him.

He turned to see what she had found and read the label before eyeing her with that squinted look of his.

Printed in bold words on the cooler were the words: **INSULIN. MUST BE KEPT COOL**.

Tina, the blonde woman, was a diabetic. She needed this to live and they had taken it from her. It made sense now, the brunette saying she needed to stay hydrated. She could see Tina collapsing in her head and she instantly felt guilt.

They had to return the insulin or Tina would die.

"She'll die if we don't give it back." Thea told him, running a hand through her hair.

Daryl huffed. "You think they'd care if it was the other way around?"

Sighing, Thea shook her head. "It doesn't matter. We can't just let her die. _I_ have to be able to live with myself when we get home." She spoke softly, not wanting him to feel like she was scolding him for his hesitance. She too would rather leave than find their former captors, but she wasn't the type of person to just let someone die.

He was quiet, but she could see on his face that he was thinking it through. Daryl wasn't a bad person, he knew right from wrong. Even though he was stubborn and sometimes hot-headed, he always made the kind of decisions a good person would make. In the end, that's exactly what he did.

"Yeah, alright." He grumbled, stuffing the cooler back into the duffel and throwing it over his shoulder as he stood.

She felt relieved that he agreed with her, but nothing in her mind had ever doubted he would. Even if he didn't have her out here with him, protesting leaving, she knew he would go back. It was one of the qualities she admired about him, his humanity despite the fact that life had never been kind to him.

She followed him as he moved in the direction they had come from. She didn't know how the three would react to them returning. The man still had that gun, though how many bullets he had left was unclear; he could easily pull it on them and end them for being kind enough to bring the insulin back. There were many ways this could backfire, but they still had to do it.

They found them sitting defeatedly on a log, the brunette was holding her arms around the blonde, who was looking weaker by the second. Daryl and Thea approached from behind and the former raised his crossbow at the ready.

"Drop the gun." Daryl spoke up, indicating the gun the man still held in his hand.

The women stayed seated, but the man sprung to his feet and aimed at them. He kept himself between them and his companions, protecting them.

Without a weapon of her own, Thea stayed behind Daryl.

Daryl kept the crossbow leveled. "Drop it!" Once the man did as he was told, Daryl reached out a hand. "Give it to me."

The gun was reluctantly released into Daryl's hand and he stepped back to hand it over to Thea, who kept it pointed at the ground but ready to use. She hoped that she wouldn't need to fire the gun, but if it came to that she was going to do what she had to do.

 _Please, don't come to that_.

"We came all this way. What you got for the duffel?" Daryl was asking. "You put us through too much shit just to give it back. Principle of the thing. What you got besides this gun?"

Regardless of what they could give, Thea knew that the duffel would still be returned. But, like Daryl had said, they had been through way too much to just give it back and walk away. She understood his motives.

The brunette sighed heavily from where she sat. "Nothing."

They really did have nothing, that much was clear. The little they had left was in the bag slung across Daryl's shoulder.

"What was that thing you were carving?"

The man shook his head and pulled a small, wooden carving from his pocket. "My grandfather taught me how—"

Daryl cut him off, reaching out to snatch the figure. "Don't care. It'll do." He tossed the duffel down at the stranger's feet, who grabbed it and pulled it closer to the women. "Good luck. You're gonna need it."

Turning around, Daryl began to move away from them. Thea made to follow him, but before she made it five steps the sound of trees snapping drew their attention. A truck was coming through the woods, running over the trees in its path. There were men surrounding it, walking with guns in their hands.

Daryl grabbed Thea by the arm and yanked her with him behind a tree to stay out of view as the squealing of the brakes indicated that the truck was stopping. One of the doors opened and a man dropped out of the cab.

"Let's end this." The newcomer called to the three still standing in eyesight.

The brunette spoke up first. "It's ours. We earned what we took."

He disagreed. "You're gonna return what you took. You're gonna pay for the gas it took to come out here and for all the time these men took out. It's over. You know the rules."

"Your rules are batshit!" she exclaimed.

The blond man cut in. "We're not going back, Wade. We're done kneeling."

"Don't change the subject, asshole." _Wade_ scoffed. He whistled and the truck engine revved.

The three strangers turned to their left to run off, but Daryl called out to them. "Hey, that way. Come on!"

"Go, go, go." The man told the girls, hand on the brunette's back to push her along.

Tina tripped over her own feet as she tried to run and Daryl pulled her to her feet, supporting her as he pulled her along. "Get up."

The five of them ran through the trees until they were sure the men and the truck were far enough away. They hid behind a thick group of trees where months of fallen branches had accumulated and created the perfect hiding spot.

Tina fell weakly to the forest floor and Thea turned to quickly press the gun into Daryl's hand before kneeling beside her, which the brunette was doing as well.

"Hey, take it." She heard Daryl saying. A glance back showed he was giving the gun to the other man, and she prayed it wouldn't end up hurting them in the end.

The walkie on his waistband hissed alive and Wade's voice came through moments later. _"Eyes open. You cover your quadrant. Go to alpha channel."_

In front of Thea, the brunette was cradling Tina. The latter was weakly speaking to her sister.

"Love you, Sher. You didn't have to do this for me." She whispered.

Sher reached for the duffel bag, shushing Tina softly as she dug through it and produced the cooler containing the insulin. She began to fill a syringe with the medicine as a walker snarled nearby, followed by a howl of pain.

"Wade, I'm bit!" one of the men looking for them yelled from somewhere. Moments later, another agonized scream came, preceded by the sound of a blade striking rock. Someone had chopped the guy's arm or leg off to stop him turning.

" _All right, that's it. Time to go home. Cam got a boo-boo."_ Wade said over the walkie.

Sher injected the insulin into Tina's arm as the sound of the truck disappeared as they got further away. The blond man faced Daryl in trepidation.

"We thought you were with them. We knock you guys over the head, tie you up, threaten to kill you…why the hell did you come back?" he asked.

Daryl grunted. "Maybe I'm stupid, too."

Thea rose to her feet. "We're all stupid if we don't get out of here before they decide to come back." She stated with a hard sigh. She was done with this day already, she wanted to get back home to her sister and her nephew and the people of Alexandria.

Sher had replaced the insulin in the cooler and the cooler into the duffel. She left Tina on the ground for a moment and stood. "I'm Sherry, this is my sister Tina," She introduced them. "And my husband, Dwight."

"Thea and Daryl and we gotta get moving." Thea said in one breath. She wasn't trying to be rude, but these people had knocked them out and tied them up, kept them as prisoners. Thea wasn't planning on being friends with them anytime soon. What she wanted was to go home.

That seemed to be enough incentive to get them all moving.

* * *

"So, you knew 'em? Still you thought we were with them?" Daryl asked as they walked.

Dwight shrugged. "Where we were—we were there since the beginning. We still didn't know everyone. Back when we first threw in with them, it was as good a place as any. Then things got harder. Human nature kicked in and it became a truly unique kind of shit-show."

"People will trade anything for safety, for knowing that they're safe." Sherry added.

"Everything. So, they got nothing left except just…existing." Said Dwight.

Thea knew more than anyone that the worst kind of people ruled the world these days. She wondered who was in charge of this place that Dwight, Sherry, and Tina had run from.

Daryl scoffed. "Hey, nobody's safe anymore. Can't promise people that anyhow." He grumbled.

"You could promise the people who want to hear it." Dwight objected.

Suddenly, Tina took off in a sprint ahead of them, disappearing around a group of trees before anyone had the chance to stop her.

"Hey, Tina, hold up." Dwight called out to her as they followed quickly after her.

What Tina had spotted had once been a greenhouse. It had probably had some really beautiful plants and flowers in it at one point, but now it had fallen victim to the fire Dwight and Sherry had started. The glass had shattered and fallen inside and around the frame of the greenhouse, which still stood proud as if it was still protecting the greenery that had once lived inside.

"Carla and Delly. That's them." Tina said softly. Her eyes were locked on two figures that seemed to be trapped under large sections of the glass. It had melted under the heat of the flames and covered them light plastic wrap where they lay in the greenhouse.

"Me and Tina used to babysit them when they were kids." Sherry told them. "Everyone said that they went out North when it all started. We didn't know." Her voice broke as she lifted a shaking hand to cover her mouth.

Dwight bowed his head. "I did this."

" _We_ did this." Sherry shook her head.

Tina reached down and plucked some yellow flowers that had somehow survived the blaze. She gathered them in her hands and walked into the burnt greenhouse to stand over what used to be Carla and Delly. Leaning over, she placed the flowers on the chest of each of them.

Something spooked her.

She screamed and jumped upright, the dramatic shift in her weight breaking the glass beneath her feet and the glass encasing the bodies. As the glass broke, the tiny blonde fell between them. Both Carla and Delly sprung up, now walkers, and reached for her, one biting into her shoulder while the other latched its teeth onto her neck.

The young girl screamed in agony as her sister broke into a panic. Daryl moved first, stabbed his knife into both walker's heads. Sherry fell to her knees over Tina's frame, weeping.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, baby." She cried, her hands hovering over Tina's wounds as if she didn't know where to even begin to help. "We had to try. We had to try. We had to. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry."

Thea felt her heart break a little. She didn't particularly like these three after what they'd done to Daryl and herself, but she wouldn't have wished this upon them. Sherry was sobbing over Tina and Thea was struck with how similar they were to the Ellis siblings: older, brunette sister trying to make things better for a young, blonde sister.

She just prayed she wouldn't have to deal with this with Cat.

* * *

The sound of shovels striking dirt were the only noises filling the air as Daryl and Dwight covered the graves they had dug for Tina and Carla and Delly. Sherry sat on a tree stump, silently crying as they piled more and more dirt over her sister's dead body. Thea stood between the three of them, arms crossed over her chest as she tried her best to keep from imagining Cat in this situation instead of Tina.

She would be so broken if she lost her sister after just getting her back. She _had_ been broken the first time around when they had been separated. She couldn't lose her again.

Daryl stopped digging and glanced back at her, clearly deep in thought. He looked to Sherry and Dwight before clearing his throat.

"Hey. How many walkers you killed?" he asked Dwight, clearly intending on inviting the distraught couple back to Alexandria. At Dwight's confused look, the archer shrugged. "Just answer the question."

"A lot. A couple dozen at least."

"How many people you killed?"

"None."

"Why?"

Dwight looked affronted that Daryl was asking _why_ he had never killed anyone. "Why haven't I killed anybody? Because if I did, there'd be no going back. There'd be no going back to how things were."

It was a good reason. Thea knew all too well that she was not the same person she was before the outbreak, not since she'd been forced to kill to protect herself and others. She had to admire the fact that he had made it this long without taking a life, but at the same time so had Glenn. It wasn't too unheard of to have clean hands.

"We're from a place where people are still like they were…more or less, better or worse." Daryl told him.

The two men looked at each other for a long moment before resuming filling the graves.

* * *

Dwight and Sherry agreed to go back with them to Alexandria.

After burying Tina, Carla, and Delly, the foursome backtracked to where Daryl had hidden his bike. They found it in the same spot and he pulled the brush off it in order to stand it back up.

"I can walk it from here. Till we meet up with my friends. They got a car, you can ride with them."

They had informed them that they needed to find Sasha and Abraham before heading home, the couple agreeing to the terms. The husband and wife seemed nervous, but Thea chalked it up to the fact that they were grieving and struggling to get to someplace safe.

"How many friends you say there were?" Dwight wondered.

Daryl grunted as he pulled the bike away from the trees. "I didn't. There's two of 'em."

"Where are they?" Dwight asked.

Thea stopped walking, allowing the three to move ahead of her as she stared. Something seemed…off about the way Dwight was questioning Daryl.

Daryl had his back to them as he pushed his bike along. "We're gonna find out." He informed them.

"How do you know they even got away? That they didn't get taken?"

"I don't."

Before Thea saw it coming, Dwight drew the gun and pointed it at him, pulling back the hammer as Daryl growled. "Aw, dammit." He dropped the bike and turned quickly, reaching for his crossbow on his back in the same movement. He couldn't get it in time, however, as Dwight had the gun trained on him already.

The blond man walked Daryl back to stand by Thea as he held the gun up, putting himself beside the bike. "I'm sorry. Give her the crossbow."

"You gonna go back? You gonna be safe?" Daryl growled in frustration.

"Shut up." Dwight replied forcefully.

Daryl shook his head. "Ain't nowhere safe no more."

Dwight didn't want to listen. "Give her the crossbow." He reiterated.

"You gonna kneel?" Daryl asked.

Frustrated, Dwight fired the gun. The bullet whizzed over Thea and Daryl's heads and embedded in a tree behind them, the former letting out a yelp of surprise. She had thought that was it, she thought he had shot Daryl. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest at the thought that he could have died so suddenly.

Hesitating only for a moment, Daryl reluctantly pulled his crossbow off his back and passed it to Sherry. As Dwight started the bike, Sherry turned to Thea with the crossbow aimed at her.

"Your backpack, too." She said, though there wasn't a lot of conviction behind the order.

There was no way in hell she was going to give them anything else after all they had done to her. They could take the bike and Daryl's crossbow, but she wouldn't let them have her pack or the items inside. She narrowed her eyes, imagining that if looks could kill Sherry would be dead as a doornail. "Don't push your luck." She snarled.

Sherry had the decency enough to look like she regretted having to do this; she gave up on the backpack. Reaching into the duffel on her shoulders, she pulled out two packs of gauze and tossed them to Daryl's feet. "Patch yourself up." She said, mounting the bike behind her husband and getting comfortable. "We're sorry."

"You're gonna be." Daryl rumbled.

The two of them rode off and Daryl and Thea stood in place until the bike was out of sight. Daryl leaned down and grabbed at the packets of gauze before pulling the wooden carving he'd taken off Dwight from his pocket and glowering at it.

Thea growled in anger and swung her left arm out, smacking the side of her hand into a nearby tree to relieve her frustration. Pain shot up her entire arm and she cried out, cradling her shaking hand to her chest. She had forgotten about her broken finger. "Ssshiiit." She hissed, squeezing her eyes shut and gritting her teeth.

"Let me see it." Daryl said in a low voice, coming around her to reach for her injured hand.

She shook her head. "It's fine, I just forgot about it…" she replied quietly, eyes turning down to her little finger, which was bruised purple and still a little crooked despite being taped to the finger beside it. The bruising started at the tip of her finger and reached all the way down to her wrist, taking up the whole left side of her hand.

Ignoring her, Daryl's hand circled around her wrist, which was so thin that the tips of his fingers overlapped. He pulled her hand close to his face to inspect the injury and she took the moment to try and calm herself. She was so frustrated that she hadn't reacted fast enough when Dwight and Sherry had pulled the gun. She had been standing behind them, why hadn't she noticed what was about to happen?

"It's broken." Daryl said plainly.

She rolled her eyes up to his face, ready to bite his head off for the smartass remark, but stopped short of snipping at him. He had a defeated look on his face, but she could tell he was trying to lighten the mood a little bit. "No shit." She replied with a small laugh, pulling her hand back.

Her eyes fell to his left arm and she reached for the gauze he held. "Let's clean this up and then we should probably get moving."

* * *

After he reluctantly let her patch up his injuries, the extent being a large laceration to his elbow and another to his wrist, they continued on their way. They needed to get back to the town they'd first been ambushed in and try to find Sasha and Abraham, if they hadn't already high-tailed it back to Alexandria.

They walked until they reached the melted walker that was still wearing its motorcycle helmet. Daryl stopped and stared at it for a long moment before crouching down and brushing dirt and soot off a sign that was on the ground beside it.

Something hidden in the trees drew her attention and she reached down to nudge his shoulder. It flashed in the sunlight, and when they drew closer she could see that it was the mirror of a large truck someone had taken the time to hide. They worked together to pull the branches off the back and the logo printed on the back, sliding door read 'AA Patrick Fuel Company'.

When Daryl pulled a branch away to reveal the license plate, Thea couldn't help but scoff. 'Patty002'. This was who Patty was to Dwight and Sherry. She was a truck, a _fuel_ truck.

There was a walker in the front seat. Daryl put it down with his knife and then they climbed into the cab, Daryl behind the wheel. It was surprising when the vehicle started without a fuss, but neither of them was going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Instead, they found the road again and headed towards town, ready to find their friends and ready to get home.

* * *

They found a trail of muddy footprints in town that were too obvious to be anything other than a sign from Sasha and Abraham. Following them proved to be a smart decision; they made it to an office building where Daryl's last name had been scratched in large letters across the door, and as they pulled up with the truck they spotted two familiar faces peeking through the window on the top floor.

"Well, that was easy." Thea commented, glancing Daryl's way with a smirk as she opened the passenger's side door.

Sasha and Abraham came out of the office building with wide grins on their faces.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes." Abraham said to the both of them.

"You guys look like you've been through hell." Sasha commented, taking in the soot, blood, and grime covering the pair.

Thea agreed. "That's an understatement." She replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "Looks like you guys made it out alright, though."

The redheaded man let out a slow chuckle. "Oh, we made it out more than alright. Got quite the loot upstairs if you don't mind helping us load it up?"

Abraham's 'loot' came from an army truck he had found abandoned on an overpass. He had found a boatload of guns and ammo, along with a few grenades and an actual rocket launcher. It was a good haul that would help them out greatly.

Maybe things weren't so bad after all.

All they needed now was to get home. Thea would hug Cat again and never take the fact that she had been given a second chance with her family for granted.

Things were looking up.

* * *

 **A/N: So, this chapter ends on a hopeful note, but we all know how long hope lasts in this world. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and all the Daryl and Thea we got! I wanted Thea to be a part of Daryl's story with Dwight, Sherry, and Tina and I hope you guys don't mind that. Please, take the time to review and let me know what you thought!**

 ***ALSO*, since this is the one year anniversary of this story, if you take the time to review it'd be cool if you guys could let me know what your favorite moment from the story has been so far. I'd be interested to hear what you all have to say and what you guys liked!**


	29. Sign of the Times

**A/N: I apologize for the long wait. I had a lot of stuff going on, including the death of a friend, and I didn't get many chances to sit down and write. I finally finished though, so here's the new chapter! It's kind of a filler chapter, but I wanted to give you guys something since it's been so long. Also, unedited, so I apologize for any errors.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

Patty was roaring down the highway. It wasn't the subtlest vehicle, especially if they were trying to avoid further interactions with the group of people who had shot at them, but as the adrenaline of the day began to wear off it didn't trouble Thea any.

She was squished on the middle of the bench seat between Daryl and Sasha, the former driving them home. As she began to feel exhaustion, her injuries were making themselves known. Her broken finger was aching terribly and she couldn't stop the way it had her whole hand shaking in her lap. On her left forearm and up to her elbow she could feel the dried blood sticking to both the shredded sleeve of her shirt and her torn skin. She'd have to have Denise properly patch her up when they got back to Alexandria.

Daryl reached forward and grabbed the radio off the dashboard, bringing it to his lips to speak into it. "Rick, you copy?" When only static replied, he called out again. "Anybody?"

There came a hissing noise followed by a garbled voice on the other end. Whatever was said wasn't comprehensible.

"Say it again?" Daryl asked.

The static continued for several long seconds before a faint word broke through: _"Help?"_

Thea frowned at the radio in Daryl's hand as he tried to get more information out of whoever had called for aid. Who could it be that needed help? Was it Rick, who had been dealing with gunfire the last they had heard from him? Or maybe one of the other members of the group who had been scattered around trying to keep the monstrous herd at bay?

"Could be someone back home." Sasha spoke up, adding in another scenario to the growing inventory in the doctor's head.

If someone at home was calling for help, that meant that her sister and nephew could be in danger. The thought did little to ease the headache that had formed from when Dwight had knocked her over the head.

Not getting a response, Daryl put the radio back on the dash with a heavy sigh. He too seemed troubled by the mystery surrounding the person on the other side of the walkie.

"Someone back home's calling for help, then we need to hightail it back there before further shit hits the fan." Abraham voiced what they were all thinking.

Daryl merely grunted in response and pressed his foot down further on the gas pedal until the car accelerated to well over seventy miles per hour.

They drove closer and closer to home and Thea closed her eyes for a moment, leaning her head back against the back of the truck cabin. Was it really too much to ask for an uneventful day?

"Daryl." Sasha's voice came as a warning.

"Yeah, I see." Daryl responded.

Thea opened her eyes to find out what they were talking about and felt her heart skip a beat. On the road up ahead, there were at least a dozen men on motorcycles. They were stopped, blocking the road and preventing anyone from driving past them. It looked like they had been _waiting_ for them.

"What in the holy hell?" Abraham muttered.

Not really having much of a choice, Daryl brought Patty to a stop and put her in park a few feet away from the men.

"Why don't you come on out, join us on the road?" the man at the head of the pack of bikers yelled over the truck's engine at them.

None of them moved a muscle.

"You know, if you wanna resist, try something. I mean, it's a choice, I guess. But we will end your asses, split you right in two, straight through to the sinuses. So, come on."

Thea wanted to tell Daryl to just plow through them. The truck they were in was more than capable of getting through the crowd of bikes, she was sure of it. However, these were human beings. Could she live with herself if they killed them without provocation? Threats were incitement, but were they enough to warrant murder? Even if these could be the men that had shot at them the day before?

Daryl made the decision before she could speak, though. He cut the engine and he and Abraham opened their doors. Reluctantly, Thea followed Daryl out of the truck and stood beside him on the road. Her heart pounded in her chest as she tried to figure out what they wanted.

"Yeah, that's great." The man continued to speak. "It's going well right out of the gate. Now, step two—hand over your weapons."

Thea stiffened in fear. This wasn't going to end well for them, she could feel it.

Daryl wasn't keen to give up so easily either. "Why should we?" He asked.

"Well, they're not yours."

Abraham and Thea spoke at the same time. "What?" they both questioned.

The biker gave a shrug, as if the answer was so obvious. "See…your weapons, your truck, the fuel in your truck, if you got mints in your glove compartment, if you got porn underneath the seats, change in the seats, hell, the seats themselves, the floor mats, your maps, the little stash of emergency napkins you got there in the console, none of those things are yours anymore."

That was an incredibly long list of things, and really all he could have said was _'everything_ ' and called it square, but clearly this was a man who liked to drag things out for the hell of it.

On the other side of the truck, Sasha took a step forward. "Whose are they?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, a challenge.

The man stepped forward also. "Your property…" He paused, seemingly for the dramatic effect. "…now belongs to Negan."

Thea's brow furrowed. Who the hell was Negan and why did the name seem so familiar to her? It was an unusual name, even if it was a last name. It was the kind of name that one would remember hearing, and yet she couldn't quite place whether or not the déjà vu she was feeling was real.

The man continued speaking despite the foursome's confusion. "And if you can get your hands on a tanker, you're people our people want to know."

He began walking towards them, veering in Thea and Daryl's direction in particular and the doctor slid back on her heel as if to back away. She only moved a few inches though, forcing herself to hold her ground; she couldn't show how uncomfortable she was.

"So, let's get those side-arms, shall we?" he came to a stop in front of the pair on the left of the truck and held his hand out. "Right now."

Again, Thea shifted uncomfortably. She didn't have a gun on her, but would he actually believe that or would things get out of hand? Daryl was glaring at the stranger, but he reached around his back and pulled his gun from his waistband, placing it in the outstretched hand.

"Thank you." As the man's eyes turned to Thea, she gulped.

"I don't have one." She stated honestly.

He cocked his head at her, an eyebrow raised in amusement. "Do you think I'm dumb, sweetheart?"

Yes, she _did_ think he was dumb, but she wasn't going to say that to his face. He was currently holding Daryl's gun and the other men on the motorcycles were armed as well. Telling him that he was stupid to hold them up wasn't something that would go well.

Though the offer made her skin crawl, she sighed. "Want to frisk me? I don't have a gun."

 _Please, please, please just take my word for it._ She begged in her head.

He didn't move, but his eyes did rake over her body slowly as if he had x-ray vision that allowed him to see any weapons hidden on her person. Evidently, his scan proved satisfactory and without a word he stepped away to go to the other side of the truck for Sasha and Abraham's firearms.

Sasha didn't put up a fuss, pulling the gun out and passing it to him before he had even stopped walking. He thanked her, as he had thanked Daryl, and stopped in front of the large ginger man, who refused to make eye contact.

Abraham was staring over the man's head, determined not to comply with his demands so easily. Dressed in the dress blues he had donned at the office building Thea and Daryl had found him and Sasha in, he looked every bit the soldier he once was.

"If you have to eat shit, best not to nibble." The man spoke up. "Bite, chew, swallow, repeat. It goes quicker."

 _Just hand it over_. Thea's inner voice pleaded.

As if she had projected her thoughts telepathically, Abraham slowly removed his gun from its holster on his hip and pressed it into the waiting hand, earning a mouthed thank you. Thea was grateful that portion of their interaction with this group went somewhat smoothly, but she knew that this was far from over.

The man returned to his group, passing their guns off to some of the others.

"Who are you people?" Sasha demanded to know.

He faced them again. "I get the curiosity, but we have questions ourselves. And we'll be the ones asking them while we drive you back to wherever it is you call home. Take a gander at where you hang your hats." He held up a finger as if to tell them to hold on. "First, though, your shit. What have you got for us?"

Daryl spoke up for the first time since they had exited the truck. "Yeah, you just took it."

That earned an eyeroll. "Come on. I mean, can we not, okay? There's more. There is _always_ more." He sighed and motioned for one of his men, wearing a baseball cap, to get up. "T…take my man to the back of the truck, start inside the back bumper, work your way to the front."

As he sat back on his motorcycle, 'T' came around and shoved Daryl in the direction of the backside of the truck. Thea wanted to follow, but feared that sudden movement may spark an unwanted reaction from one of their new friends.

"Bite, chew, swallow, repeat."

Thea rolled her eyes and glanced to the back of the truck to see what was going on, but Daryl and T were out of sight.

Abraham finally asked the question on everyone's minds. "Who's Negan?"

Instead of answering, the leader raised the gun in his left hand and pointed it at Abraham, responding in a sing-song voice. "Ding, don't. Hell's bells!"

Thea's heart leapt into her throat out of both fear and frustration. This wasn't the first time she'd had a gun pointed at herself or her companion in the last twenty-four hours, but it still scared the shit out of her.

"You see, usually we introduce ourselves by just popping one of you right off the bat. But you seem like reasonable people. I mean, you're sporting dress blues, for Christ's sake. And, like I said, we're gonna drive you back to where you were. I mean, do you know how awkward it is carpooling with someone whose friend or friends you've just killed? Oof." He made a face that was the visual equivalent of 'oy vey'. "But I told you not to ask any question. And then what does this ginger do? So that's that. I don't want you to get the wrong impression of me."

He pulled the hammer back on the gun, but before he could fire Sasha reacted instinctively.

"Wait!" she exclaimed, fear in her eyes. She paused to catch her breath. "Wait. You don't have to do this."

Rather than appealing to some good side of him, it fueled his irritation. He raised another gun in his right hand and aimed at Sasha.

"Shut up." Abe warned Sasha, trying to save her from a horrible fate.

Sasha narrowed her eyes at him. "I am _talking_ to the man."

Said man shook his head. "No, you're not."

He lifted both guns in line with his targets' heads as if he were about to fire. Thea felt herself tremble in terror. At the last second, he let out a sigh before dropping his arms to his lap. He waved one gun-filled hand nonchalantly. "I'm not gonna kill you."

Sasha's sigh of relief seemed to come too soon.

"Wait, wait. You know what? Yes, I am."

The guns came up again, but before they had even made it past the handlebars of his motorcycle, the group of men suddenly exploded in flames. The force of the blast propelled Thea and the other two backwards. Thea nearly hit the open driver's door of the tanker as she was sent flying, instead landing in a heap on the pavement. Her back hit the ground so hard that it knocked the air out of her lungs for a full minute.

Her ears were ringing and she was staring up at the blue sky above her as she began to cough as the oxygen reentered her body and burned her throat. Smoke filled the air making it harder to breathe and she shifted onto her side to peer over at the spot where the biker gang had been. All that was left was burning metal and scraps of bodies.

How?

Sound finally travelled back into her ear drums and it was enough for her to hear panting to her left. When she turned, she found Daryl standing there holding the rocket launcher Abraham had found. One of the ends was smoking, but she didn't need that to know he had blown up the group.

"Holy shit." Thea managed to croak out before struggling to her feet.

Sasha and Abraham appeared just as dazed as she felt as they came around to the left side of the truck.

"Son of a bitch was tougher than he looked." Daryl responded to their questioning glances.

Thea turned and spotted T lying dead by the back end of the tanker.

Sasha's voice drew her attention back to the other three survivors. "Did he cut you?" she was asking Daryl.

"A little." The archer shrugged nonchalantly.

Thea and Sasha were both quick to move to check his wound. It was a large slice across his shoulder blade, right on top of one of the white wings of his vest, and would require stitches when they made it back to Alexandria, but it wasn't bleeding too badly. Sasha pressed a red oil rag to it.

"What a bunch of assholes." Daryl commented, and Thea couldn't help but chuckle in agreement.

"Let's get you fixed up at home." Sasha responded.

The archer nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

They climbed back into the truck, and though their brief encounter with the biker gang left her feeling unsettled, Thea was relieved to know that they had escaped without any serious injuries or repercussions.

She was still left with the strange feeling that she knew this _Negan_ , but after the long day she'd had, Thea only made it another thirty minutes down the road before she fell asleep with her head leaning back against the back of the truck cabin.

* * *

Night fell before they made it back to Alexandria.

Thea was awoken by the sudden jarring of the truck. She jumped, startled, only to find that Daryl had hit a pothole. Her reaction earned chuckles from Abraham and Sasha, and she could have sworn she'd seen a smirk on the archer's face.

"Morning, sunshine." Abraham called loudly through the small cabin.

Thea sat up straighter and lifted a hand to brush her hair out of her face. "How long was I out?"

Sasha shrugged. "About two hours, but you don't snore so we figured we'd let you sleep."

"Pretty sure you drooled all over Daryl, though." Abraham added.

Her eyes widened and she slowly turned her head. Daryl was focused on the road, but she didn't need him to verbally confirm what the other man had said when she could feel dry saliva on the side of her face. Her face heated with embarrassment as she wiped at her cheek.

"Sorry." She managed to croak out despite the way her throat constricted in humiliation.

The archer glanced her way, but before he could so much as grunt in her general direction Abraham spoke up once again.

"Motherdick." He grumbled.

They had turned onto the road that led directly to Alexandria and could see the community up ahead. The front gates were closed, but where the tower had once been just outside the wall was open air. The structure had collapsed onto the wall and knocked it down. There were a few walkers slipping through the opening, but based on the sounds coming from inside the community through the open windows of the truck, there were a hell of a lot more roaming the streets of Alexandria.

As they drew closer, they could see Maggie and Enid on the watch post attached to the wall by the front gate. Both were facing the opposite direction, shouting hysterically at something on the ground below them.

"We gotta get the guns out of the back." Sasha decided, nudging Abraham to open the door.

Daryl brought the truck to a stop and the two on the passenger's side hopped out. They ran to the back end and returned moments later with assault rifles in hand. Sasha passed a rifle to Thea before she followed Abraham up onto the roof. Daryl pulled the truck right up to the gate and they could hear the two above them firing at the walkers inside the walls.

"Can you get the gate?" Abe shouted between firing. "Appreciate it, pal!" He started laughing in enjoyment as he continued to shoot.

The gate slowly pulled open and a bloody, frazzled looking Glenn came into view. Daryl pulled up a little bit so that Maggie and Enid could jump onto the truck from the watch post, and Glenn came around to hop into the truck with them.

"What the hell happened?" Daryl asked as the man shut the door.

Glenn was out of breath as he responded. "I don't know. I just got back."

Blood coated his face and hands, dirt covering the spots that weren't red. He looked like he had been through hell and back, and based on the look in his eyes he felt that way too.

"Listen," he said. "We can—we can lead some of them away, but they're scattered."

Thea shook her head. There was no way she was driving away from Alexandria again, not with the chaos that was loose. She needed to find her sister and make sure she was alright. Even if she had to jump out of the truck and fight the walkers hand-to-hand.

"Nah, we get 'em all together. Won't have to lead 'em away." Daryl disagreed.

He pounded a fist against the roof and a moment later Abraham crawled down. Daryl got out of the driver's seat to talk to him and though they couldn't hear what was being said inside the truck, it looked like they were going over a plan.

"What happened to you?" Glenn's voice asked, drawing her attention back to the man sitting beside her. When she turned, he was looking down at her broken finger and the shredded skin on her arm.

Thea sighed, the thought of Dwight, Sherry, and Tina making her blood boil just a little. "It's a long story." She replied simply.

The driver's door opened again, but this time it was Abraham climbing behind the wheel. Maggie, Sasha, and Enid were on the other side and they all squished into the small cab as Daryl crawled onto the top of the truck.

Abraham drove the truck through the streets of Alexandria until they reached the pond in the center of the group of houses. He backed up to it and jumped out. They could hear the valve of the tank opening and the gasoline draining and Thea leaned across to look in the side mirror.

He was dumping the tank into the pond, and with Daryl standing above them with the rocket launcher, she could guess what the plan was. They would set the pond on fire and it would draw the walkers in. Any of the dead that didn't get charred to a crisp in the flames would be picked off by the survivors.

Abe came back to pull the truck forward and Daryl beat on the roof above them.

"All right, that's it!" He shouted down to them.

When the truck stopped, they could hear his footfalls on the top of the tank before the pond exploded in flames similarly to how the biker gang had. The herd was drawn to the fire, walking straight into the flaming water like sailors drawn in by a siren's call.

The group hopped out of the truck and began to kill any of the walkers that were lagging behind. They were joined by Rick, Michonne, and the others from Alexandria. Each of them used whatever weapon they had on hand. Thea fired the rifle until it was empty and then resorted to using her knife.

The process was long and tiring, but they were going to win this thing. She just hoped they hadn't lost too many people in the process.

* * *

All the walkers were dead. A couple of the Alexandrian's offered to walk the community streets and put down any that were merely wounded, as the others took a much-needed rest.

The muscles in Thea's arms were screaming from the exertion, but it was the kind of exhaustion that came from hard work.

Stepping over a particularly gross walker on the ground, she made her way towards where Aaron was standing with Eric. "Hey, do you guys know where Cat and Hank are?" she asked, slipping her knife back into its sheath.

The two men exchanged glances that had the doctor narrowing her eyes in worry.

"Hank is safe. He's upstairs," Aaron indicated the house that was used as the clinic. "But…there's something we have to tell you."

Her stomach dropped. She took a step back as if it would help her, her mouth dropping open. "W-What is it?" She asked. She could feel her heart pounding against her ribcage. She knew something was wrong.

Aaron reached a hand out to her but didn't touch her. "Before the walkers came, a group attacked us. Cat was at her house with Hank. One of them got in…"

She shook her head, her eyes welling up. She wished he would just _say it_ already, say that her sister was dead and get it over with.

"She fought him off, but…but she got stabbed." Aaron finished.

Thea gasped, hand flying to cover her mouth. Her tears spilled down her face. "I-Is she dead?" Her voice was too weak to say it louder than a whisper, her throat felt like it was closing up.

She'd just gotten her sister back and now she was going to lose her again.

Aaron was quick to shake his head, stepping forward to reach out to her as if he realized how the way he had said it made it sound. "No, no. But she's not looking good. Denise did what she could."

Thea backed up several feet before her back hit something solid. She glanced behind her and saw that it was Daryl, but didn't bother to apologize before she broke into a sprint towards the clinic.

She burst through the front door, earning a startled yelp from Denise. The doctor was wiping blood off a table and she dropped the rag upon seeing Thea.

"Thea, you're—."

"Where's Cat?" Thea cut her off urgently.

Denise's eyes widened. "Oh, uh, she's over here." She led her to the far corner where there was a sheet pulled to block off the bed from the open room. She pulled it open for Thea to step up to the bed.

Cat was laying with a blanket covering her up to her chest. Her blonde hair was spilling across her pillow and her skin was deathly pale. She was so still that Thea thought she was dead for a moment before she spotted the shallow movements of her chest as she breathed in and out.

"I did everything I could think of, I even read those books you gave me for answers." Denise explained. "I stopped the bleeding and stitched her up, but the wound was pretty deep. I don't know if the knife hit anything or…or if she has internal bleeding."

Thea fell onto the stool beside the bed and reached out to place a hand on Cat's arm. It was cold and Thea couldn't help but feel like she was identifying a body.

"Ar-Aren't you going to check the wound?" Denise stuttered quietly, awkwardly.

After a moment, Thea shook her head. "No, I trust you." She said softly. "If she doesn't improve in the next couple of hours, I will."

Truth be told, if Denise said she had done everything possible then there really wasn't anything Thea could do either. Short of actually performing surgery, they could only wait and see how Cat healed. Without proper medical equipment, they had no way of knowing just how bad it truly was.

Denise stepped away to give her some privacy. The door opened and Thea could hear people coming into the clinic, but she didn't turn to see who it was. She propped her elbow on the edge of the bed, letting her head fall into her hand as she began to weep.

Catherine's gut feeling had been right. She had said that she felt something bad would happen, that she would never see Thea again. And here she was, laying close to death in a poor excuse for a hospital.

She wished there was a way to go back in time. If only she would have stayed at Alexandria instead of going on the dry run, maybe she could have done something to protect her sister.

* * *

" _Thea, it's time." Cat's urgent voice came from behind her._

 _The doctor was sitting on the couch in her sister's living room, a cheesy gossip magazine in her lap as she looked over a best and worst dressed list. "Time for what?" She asked, flipping the page._

 _Her sister waddled around the couch until she was standing in front of her, both hands on her large abdomen, and the front of her gray sweatpants wet almost to the knees._

" _What do you think?" she asked through gritted teeth._

 _Thea tossed the magazine onto the couch beside her and got to her feet. "Okay, okay. This is no big deal, we're going to go to the hospital and have a baby. Did you call your doctor yet?" she spoke in what she hoped was a calming voice._

 _Cat shook her head. "No, I was a little preoccupied with my water breaking all over the carpet!" She exclaimed._

 _Thea scrunched up her nose. "That's going to be a bitch to clean up."_

" _Thea!"_

" _Okay, all right! Let's grab your bag and we'll call the doctor from the car."_

 _Cat nodded slowly, her hands smoothing over her belly as if to calm herself. "O-okay. What about Kyle? He went to class, I shouldn't have told him to go but I didn't think—."_

 _Thea stepped forward and placed her hands gently on Cat's shoulders._ "I _will call Kyle from the car. Let's just get moving, all right?"_

 _They managed to get into Thea's car, which was favorable due to the leather seats, and began driving to the hospital. They had each made the calls they were supposed to be making, and now it was a race through traffic to get to the hospital. The doctor was going to be meeting them there, and Kyle was already on his way as well._

 _Thea had flown down to Georgia to be with her sister the week of her due date; Catherine had asked her to be there in the room when she was giving birth and Thea couldn't be more honored to be a part of something so great._

 _Cat's hand reached over to grasp Thea's arm tightly as another contraction hit, a loud groan emanating from her throat. "Oh, my god, this hurts so bad. I'm going to find the person who came up with the epidural and I'm going to kiss them right on the mouth."_

 _Stifling a laugh, Thea shook her head. "I thought you said you wanted to do it naturally?"_

" _Fuck that! I'm getting that epidural, try and stop me."_

 _This time she didn't hide her laugh. "Alright, alright, I won't. Just don't try and blame me for letting you do it later."_

 _They made it to the hospital without making any traffic violations and six hours later, Henry Simon Miller was born._

 _It was a day that changed both Ellis sisters' lives forever._

* * *

"Thea?" a voice called softly from behind her, pulling her from the fitful sleep she had fallen into with her head resting on the bed beside Cat.

She lifted her head slowly, eyes falling to where Cat was still unconscious, and then she turned to see who had said her name. Maggie stood with a soft expression on her face and a bottle of water in her hand. Thea was surprised to find that sunlight was streaming in through the window behind her.

"I brought you some water." Maggie said, holding the bottle out to her.

Her throat was incredibly dry so she took the bottle and drained half of it before thanking the other woman. She still didn't know where they stood since the way Maggie had reacted after she was reunited with Cat, but right now she was too tired to try and figure it out.

Behind Maggie, Denise was standing behind a half shirtless Daryl as she sewed up the cut on his back. Glenn was talking to the archer in a hushed tone.

"You should let Denise take a look at your hand," Maggie was saying. "And your arm doesn't look too good either. You should get cleaned up."

She wanted to argue that she was more than capable of taking care of herself, but she was far too exhausted. She glanced back at her sister's motionless form in apprehension. What if she left and Cat died?

Noticing her uneasiness, Maggie placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll stay with her." She offered.

She didn't want to leave, but she knew that there was nothing she could do right now. Nodding, she stood and allowed Maggie to take her place in the chair by Cat's bed. She went upstairs, not wanting to go all the way across Alexandria to her own house, and into the master bathroom. She unraveled the makeshift wrap on her broken finger, cringing at the way the bruises made her finger look like it was nearly necrotic.

As she pulled the long-sleeved shirt over her head, she tossed it into the trash bin by the toilet; the left sleeve was completely ruined and blood from both herself and several walkers covered the material. She stripped out of the rest of her clothes and jumped into a near scalding shower, taking the time to scrub at her hair and skin until she was sure she was clean.

When she finished, she realized she didn't have any clean clothes. She put the jeans and tank top back on and used a towel to dry her hair as much as she could. As she dropped the towel over the sink, she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

Her face was still a Jackson Pollack painting with bruises as the medium. Her nose had been set back to its normal position, but it still had a crooked look to it. A dark bruise spread across the bridge and down to the area beneath both of her eyes. Her lower lip was split, a small bruise streaking down from the corner of her mouth to just under her chin. All were evidence of the way Pete had attacked her.

And yet she was still standing. After all of it, she was standing in front of the mirror on her own two feet.

She should be proud of herself.

The only thing she could think of, however, was the fact that her sister had fought with a man to protect her son and ended up with a stab wound that had her bedridden and unconscious. _One_ thing had taken her out.

The mental image of her sister downstairs had her letting out a shaky breath of air. She raised a hand to cover her mouth so none of the survivors down below would hear her crying; she didn't want their stares when she made it back downstairs.

And part of her felt guilty for being so selfish. She had wanted to go on the run so badly that she hadn't let up, even after others had urged her to stay behind. She'd practically forced Rick's hand by coming up with the plan to go on the dry run so she wouldn't be on the actual run. If she hadn't done that, she would have been here to protect her sister.

Wiping her face quickly, she took in a deep breath to steady herself and pulled open the bathroom door. She stopped in her tracks when she found Daryl standing with his back against the wall across from the bathroom, arms crossed. It looked like he was waiting for her.

Neither of them moved at first, but then she stepped into the hallway and shut the door behind her.

"You alright?" he asked, his voice a barely audible grumble of words like he felt weird asking.

She swallowed, eyes falling to the floorboards. She could easily lie and go back downstairs to her sister, but he had made the effort to come and check on her despite the fact that he wasn't very good with heart-to-heart stuff like this. She didn't want to take that for granted, for fear that it would scare him off.

"No." She said simply. "This is my fault. I shouldn't have gone on the dry run."

He didn't say anything and she could tell he was waiting for her to continue, giving her the chance to vent if she would take it.

She sighed. "The other night, Cat had this _feeling_. She said she knew something bad was going to happen. Said she had the feeling that she would never see me again. I thought…I thought she meant something would happen to me, but…" she shook her head as her eyes began to well up again; she didn't want to cry again.

"I-I shouldn't have gone on the dry run, I should have _listened_ to her. I could have protected her if I was here, I could have—." She stopped, bowing her head as her voice cracked and tears escaped once more. It was the third time she'd cried today and she felt so ridiculous.

He surprised her by coming forward slowly, timidly as if he didn't know exactly what to do. But he reached out for her, his hands grasping her upper arms gingerly. Hesitantly, he pulled her into him.

It would have been awkward if she wasn't so broken. But she was, so she went with it.

She buried her face in his shoulder, wrapped her arms around his waist and gripped the fabric of the back of his shirt. It'd been a while since she'd hugged someone other than her sister, and after everything that had happened to her since the world had ended she hadn't been too upset with the lack of physical contact from others. But now that someone was taking the time to show her kindness, she realized that she had been missing it.

She'd been missing the _good_ side of people and the people who were _good_.

She wasn't sure how long they stood there with her tears wetting the fabric on his shoulder. The only thing that made her back away was the sound of the floorboards at the top of the stairs creaking.

They pulled away from each other, turning to find Glenn standing there with a tired expression on his face.

"Hey, sorry, I was just looking for Thea." He said, glancing between the two of them.

Thea cleared her throat and wiped at her eyes. "What's up?" She asked, eyes following Daryl as he slipped down the stairs without a word.

She wondered what was going through his head.

"Uh, Aaron and Eric wanted me to let you know that they took Hank home with them for the night. They said that he could stay with them however long is needed."

Thea felt herself blush from embarrassment. She had completely forgotten about Hank; how could she have been so careless? He must be so scared not knowing what was going on with his mother, and yet she had made it all about her. It only made her more ashamed of herself.

Nodding, she offered Glenn a small smile. "Thank you."

He simply nodded in return, his eyes falling to her swollen and bruised pinky finger. "What happened to you guys out there?" He wondered for the second time that night.

That was a loaded question. She shook her head, trying to figure out if she should tell him about Dwight and Sherry. About Tina and the men who had been chasing the three of them before they'd taken Daryl and herself as hostages.

"Well, we tipped the bike over…that's when I broke my finger." She explained. "But you said you just got back? What kept you out there so long?"

He let out a long sigh and moved to lean back against the wall where Daryl had been when she'd exited the bathroom. "It's a long story. Nicholas and I were by ourselves, we got trapped on top of a dumpster in an alley full of walkers. And he couldn't do it anymore…he shot himself in the head."

Thea inhaled slowly. "Holy shit." It was all she could say. Nicholas had been a little off his rocker since their group had arrived and with all the bullshit he had put Glenn through—getting Noah killed, shooting Glenn and trying to get him eaten by walkers—she was unsure if the feeling she had in her chest was grief at another loss or relief that they wouldn't have to keep all eyes on him any longer.

"Yeah…" Glenn trailed off, a haunted look falling over his face. "He fell on me. We fell off the dumpster…and I thought that was it. His body was on top of me and the walkers were eating him." He shook his head. "It was like they were eating me, too."

Her eyes widened in fear. He had come so close to being killed. Maggie was pregnant, what would she have done if he had never come home? "How…how did you make it out of there?" She whispered, trying to keep herself calm. Glenn was one of the people she was closest to out of the group, the idea of losing him had tears welling up in her eyes.

Maybe she was still sensitive from the Cat situation, or maybe it was because he meant so much to her.

"I crawled under the dumpster. I don't know how long I stayed there. Enid came, she drew the walkers away and saved me."

She stepped forward. " _Enid_?" she asked incredulously.

"She was trying to run away. I brought her back." He explained.

She shook her head. So much had happened to the group in just a day and a half and she could feel the weight of it in the air. It was heavy like a thick cloud of humidity that made it difficult to breathe. She wasn't sure how many people had been lost in the battle of Alexandria, both against humans and walkers, but she knew that it was too much.

She was glad Glenn wasn't one of the casualties. Now she just needed to make sure Cat didn't add to the number.

Stepping forward, she extended her arms out to him. They met in the middle of the hall in a tight hug. "I'm glad you're okay." She told him quietly, squeezing her eyes shut to fight off another round of tears.

He was squeezing her back as he nodded. "Yeah, you, too." He murmured.

* * *

The next morning, Thea woke up with the hopes of finding her sister awake. She stood from her chair and stretched her arms above her head before turning her attention to Cat. The disappointment at seeing her still unconscious filled her immediately, but she swallowed it down and moved forward to take her vitals. She placed two fingers on the pulse point on Cat's wrist and looked down at her watch as sixty seconds ticked by.

Her pulse was slightly elevated from the normal, but it was to be expected with how hard her body must be working to heal itself. It was really a numbers game; any lower and any higher would be alarming.

Sighing softly, she pulled the blanket back and lifted the front of her sister's shirt. There was a bulky white bandage placed over the lower right side of her abdomen, tinted slightly pink in the center where it directly touched the wound. Thea gently lifted the tape on one side of the bandage and exposed the wound to the air.

It was a clean laceration, no jagged edges or awkward angles. Denise had done a great job with the stitches and Thea couldn't have done better. Sutures were one of the first things that a student learned in medical school and Denise had clearly gotten past that point before switching to psychology.

Hesitantly, she placed the tip of her fingers against the edge of the stitches to make sure the skin around the wound wasn't warmer than the rest of Cat's skin. If it was warmer, that would indicate an infection, which was not something they wanted or needed in the old world, much less in a world with a limited supply of antibiotics.

Thankfully, the temperature was the same and the skin didn't look too red. There were no indications that there was something wrong other than Catherine's lack of consciousness and she sighed heavily, bowing her head.

"Hey, how's she looking?" Denise asked softly as she came up behind the doctor.

Thea took a deep breath and shrugged. "The wound looks good. You did a really good job, Denise." Her eyes fell to her baby sister's face and she felt her breath hitch in worry. It was killing her not knowing what was going on inside Cat's body right now.

"Do you—Do you mind changing her bandage? I just need to get out of the clinic for a minute."

Denise nodded. "Of course. Go ahead."

Placing a grateful hand on the blonde's shoulder, she offered a small smile before stepping past her and making her way out of the clinic. She felt a tiny bit of shame that she couldn't sit any longer with her ailing sister, but she thought for sure she would go crazy if she stared at her unmoving form for much longer.

She stepped out into the mid-morning sun and was surprised to find that the street was full. The neighborhood seemed to have banded together to start cleaning up the mess from the previous night. They had begun piling the bodies of the downed walkers in the back of a truck, more than likely to take somewhere beyond the walls and either burn or dump.

As she went down the porch steps, Rick was the first to approach her. He pulled a bloody glove off one of his hands and squinted through the sun at her.

"How's Cat?" He wondered, wiping sweat from his brow.

Thea shook her head. "No change." She glanced around to avoid his pitiful look. "Do you guys need any help?"

"No, no. You should stay with your sister—" He began to protest.

She waved him off. "I can't just sit in a chair and wait for her to die. So, I'm gonna help…just tell me what to do."

He watched her for a moment, something in his face told her he was in the same boat. She had heard that Carl had been shot in his eye and that Denise had stitched him up and he was recovering in the clinic. It looked like Rick was working to avoid sitting bedside as well.

He pointed to her tightly wrapped hand. "There's not a lot you can do with that hand."

Thea turned her attention to her hand. Denise had rewrapped it last night after her shower and decided to wrap her four fingers together to make for a better splint. With her thumb left unwrapped, it looked like she was wearing a white mitten. He was right, though, there was very little she could do with it.

Sighing softly, she ran her good hand through her hair. "Want me to check in on Carl?" She asked, giving into the fact that she would only hurt herself more if she tried moving bodies.

"I would appreciate it." He nodded.

As she turned to go back into the clinic, she jumped as she felt his hand land on her shoulder.

"Hey," he waited until she faced him. "Thank you."

His face was so earnest and he was so grateful that it was almost too much to look directly into his blue eyes. With the emotions coursing through her from what was going on with Cat, she couldn't handle his feelings right now.

"Yeah, no problem." She said softly, brushing his hand off and returning to the clinic.

She avoided looking in her sister's direction, instead dodging to the left and into Carl's room. He was lying in a bed with a blanket up to his chest, staring blankly up at the ceiling with a blank expression on his face. A white bandage was wrapped around his head, covering his right eye.

Knocking softly on the doorframe, she waited until his eyes flickered in her direction before speaking.

"Hey, I just wanted to come see how you were doing?" she spoke softly, moving to stand at the end of the bed and resting her hands on the frame.

He didn't respond as he turned his gaze back to the ceiling. She could tell he was feeling down by what had happened; losing an eye was hard enough, but losing it at his age seemed worse. Add in the fact that he had lost it by getting shot by someone he might have considered a friend, and she was sure he was in a low place.

She didn't know where to start. "Do you mind if I take a look? Just to make sure everything's okay?"

The teen remained silent as he thought it over. It didn't look like he was particularly excited about the idea of someone seeing what was beneath the bandage, but eventually he gave a shrug in response. It was probably more to do with the fact that she was a doctor than him actually being comfortable with her looking.

Thea rounded the bed and paused with her hand extended. She didn't want to make him uncomfortable or move too fast. Finally, she gently took the gauze into two fingers and pulled it up on his face until his eye was revealed to her…or his eye _socket_.

She had to hold in the gasp that threatened to make her surprise known; she didn't want him to be embarrassed or self-conscious. Instead, she nibbled on her bottom lip and kept her hand steady.

She'd seen worse. She'd _done_ worse.

The entire orbital socket had been torn into by the bullet, but thankfully instead of going further into his skull it had grazed the side of his face, leaving a long and jagged wound on his temple.

Carl was lucky to be alive.

Denise had stitched up the eye socket and tried to follow the wound track in a straight line, but had been forced into a slight angle at his temple. Despite the intensity of the injury, though, she had done a decent job closing it up.

The skin didn't look enflamed and there was no other sign of infection. For the time being, it looked okay.

Replacing the bandage, she offered him a small smile. "It looks fine." She reassured him.

The teen scoffed. "You mean other than the fact that my eye is gone, right?"

She should have been put off by the snide comment and the tone of his voice, but she had seen plenty of patients respond the same, or worse, when losing a limb or suffering a life altering injury such as this. She was used to it and it was completely normal for him to react in such a way.

Stepping back just a step, she nodded. "Yeah," she agreed with him, not trying to sugarcoat it. He already knew the situation. "I think that you can be up on your feet by tomorrow afternoon. There's no reason for you to be bedridden. I just want you to know that your balance might be off until you figure out how to deal with the change in your depth perception. You should try doing some things that exercise your hand-eye-coordination, like playing catch or darts or something like that. It will definitely help."

She wasn't sure if he was actually listening to her advice, but it was the same instructions she would give anyone else in this situation. When he didn't respond, she nodded again before turning and heading towards the door.

"I'll let your father know you can leave the clinic tomorrow." She commented as she went through the door.

Outside, Rick was sitting on the porch steps as if he were waiting for her. She sat beside him with a heavy sigh.

"How is he?" He asked after a beat.

She wet her lips. "He should be up on his feet sometime tomorrow, but his hand-eye coordination is going to be off for a while. He might be a bit clumsier, and he might not be able to fire a gun right for a bit so don't take him outside the walls. I told him to try doing some tasks that will help him build his coordination with one eye."

He was nodding as he listened, taking it all in like she had seen many family members do during her time as a doctor in the old world.

Taking a deep breath, she hoped he would take the next part just as well. "I just want you to know that he's not going to be the same kid he has been. This kind of injury…it isn't something that he can come back from with the same mindset as before. He's going to need some time to adjust. Don't blame him for any attitude he might have or if he starts misbehaving; I've seen it before and it always has to do with the fact that the patient has lost something. He lost his _eye_ , there will be some significant mood changes."

Rick was silent as he took it all in. "And I thought the moody teen years were behind us." He commented, trying to lighten the air between them.

She chuckled. "Yeah, well when has luck ever really been on our side?"

* * *

She couldn't sleep.

Rosita had taken a shift by Cat's bedside with strict orders for Thea to go home and get some real rest, but she couldn't sleep.

She had laid in bed for what seemed like ages, staring up at the ceiling and fighting the burning urge in her legs to get up and move. She wanted to sleep.

Finally, she threw the covers off and put the jeans she had been wearing earlier back on. She slipped her feet into a pair of impractical sandals and snuck out of the house so as not to wake any of the others who were fast asleep.

She hadn't planned on going anywhere specific, thinking maybe a walk would clear her head enough to let her rest, but she found herself on the porch of Cat's house. She tried the door and was surprised to find that it was unlocked. Stepping inside, she let her eyes adjust to the lack of light and shut the door softly behind her.

"Enid? Olivia?" She called out quietly.

There was no response, but what could she expect when she had barely spoken. She didn't know what she was looking for exactly, Cat wasn't even here. Maybe she just wanted to be close to her without being near her? Or maybe she was just losing her mind.

She walked through the kitchen and paused. Someone had removed the body of the man Cat had been forced to kill, but no one had cleaned up the blood yet. She stared at it for a long moment, at the way it was congealed on the tile. There was a trail of it leading out of the room that she followed to the stairs, where the trail ended in another pool of red.

This was where Aaron had found Cat. He'd explained it all to her, how her sister had fought off an attacker and he had found her trying to get up the stairs to Hank. The thought of it was enough to make Thea's eyes water.

Someone needed to clean it up before Cat woke up. The younger Ellis sibling didn't need the reminder of what she had endured. And Enid and Olivia didn't need to live like this. It was a wonder why no one had bothered to clean it up already.

She filled a large plastic bowl with hot, soapy water and grabbed a sponge from beneath the sink. Deciding to start with the wooden floor of the stairs, which would probably be harder to clean, she got down on her hands and knees and began to scrub away at the mess.

The blood that was still pooled on the floorboards came off easily enough, but it had been there for so long that it had stained the wood. She dipped the sponge back in the now dirty water and wrung it out before moving back to the floor. She scrubbed hard, putting her elbow into it, but the circle of red never lessened.

The floor had been really pretty, too.

Gritting her teeth, she placed both hands on the sponge and really got into it until she was sure her own hands were going to fall off. She had to get this cleaned up though. She couldn't leave it; Cat didn't need to see it when she came back, didn't need to be reminded of what had happened.

The last time there had been this much blood on the floor was when Tyreese had died. She could still remember it pooled on the floor around him when they'd gotten to Noah's house. And then it had been all over her and the backseat of the blue SUV they'd driven for a while. Before that, it had been Beth's brains spilling across the hospital hallway. The trail of blood leading from the solitary confinement cell Karen had been in to the courtyard where she had been burned to a crisp.

Suddenly she could remember being on her hands and knees in the prison library, trying to get away from Hoyt. She hadn't gotten very far before he had grabbed her and dragged her backwards. She'd tried grabbing onto the bookshelves but it had not helped her in the end.

"Thea?" a voice called to her, a soft hand landing on her shoulder and startling her.

She jumped and instinctively raised a hand as if to block her face from an attack, but when she turned she found that the hand on her shoulder belonged to Glenn.

He pulled his hand off her when he noticed her reaction, eyes traveling to the sponge she held. "Hey, what are you doing?"

Thea relaxed only slightly, her chest heaving as she tried to calm her breathing. "I-I'm cleaning." She stated, gazing down at the bloody sponge.

"It's late, you should be getting some rest." Maggie said from behind her husband. Behind her, Enid stood in the doorway with an odd look on her face.

Thea shook her head. "No, no. I don't want Cat to see this when she gets home." She murmured, dipping the sponge in the bowl and moving to start scrubbing again.

Glenn stepped forward and reached out to take the sponge from her. "Hey," he said softly to gain her attention again. "Hey, you can do this another time, okay? You've barely slept since you got back from the dry run." He placed the sponge in the bowl and picked it up slowly so as not to spill any of the water. Passing the bowl to Maggie, he faced Thea again.

She was still panting.

"Are you okay?"

She didn't know how to answer that question. She hadn't been _okay_ in a long time and the look in Glenn's eyes told her he didn't want anything but honesty as a response. She didn't want to put the weight of her burdens on him.

Instead of replying, she looked over his shoulder. Maggie had left to put the bowl away, but Enid was still standing half in the room. "I'm sorry if I scared you, Enid." She apologized, turning her face down to her lap in embarrassment. The teen shouldn't have to see this.

"It's okay." Was the girl's only response, but it sounded genuine.

Maggie returned from the kitchen and she stooped down beside Glenn, her face soft as she reached out for Thea. "Let's get you back home, okay?"

Thea still felt in a daze from the memories that had flooded her. She had caught her breath, but her chest still felt tight. She nodded slowly and allowed the other woman to help her to her feet.

"Enid, get some sleep." Glenn instructed in a very fatherly way that had the teen doing as she was told, though not without an eyeroll.

The couple led her out of the house and down the street until they were back at the house they all shared. Maggie had ahold of Thea's left arm as she helped her up the front steps and as they reached the porch landing, a voice came from the shadows.

"She alright?" Daryl asked as he stepped forward, a cigarette in hand. His eyes traveled to the diluted blood on her pants and hands.

Maggie kept Thea walking as Glenn veered to the side to speak with Daryl.

"Enid came and got us, said she heard a noise downstairs and when she checked it was Thea trying to clean Cat's blood off the floor." He began.

Maggie took Thea inside and she wasn't able to hear any more of the conversation. They went upstairs where the former took the latter into her room, sitting her on the bed.

"I'm sorry, Thea." She spoke up, sitting beside her.

It snapped her out of her haze and she frowned. "For what?"

Maggie scoffed. "I was awful to you when you got Cat back. I was so jealous and pissed…I shouldn't have acted like that."

Thea shook her head. "Maggie, no. You just lost Beth. I understand why you reacted that way. I probably would have done the same."

"No, you wouldn't have." Maggie disagreed with a shake of her head. "So, I'm sorry." She paused for a long moment, her eyes thoughtful as she studied the floor. "When we found out Beth was alive, I was so happy. I had given up hope of finding her, I just thought she was gone. Michonne told me that she was alive and in Atlanta and we were headed that way and all I could think was that I was getting a second chance. And then we got to the hospital…and Daryl came out with Beth in his arms. I lost my second chance, and when I saw you getting yours…" she shrugged. "I was furious. Heartbroken."

Thea reached out and placed a hand on Maggie's forearm, trying to let her know that she didn't blame her for acting the way she did.

"And now, Cat is fighting for her life and—" She cut herself off with a hand to her mouth. Her eyes were welling up. "I feel awful about it…but I thought it was…karma."

Thea's eyes widened and without realizing it, she removed her hand from Maggie's arm. The other woman took it as a sign and stood, moving towards the door.

"I'm sorry." She sobbed into her hand.

Thea stood before she could open the door and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her into a hug. "It's okay, it's okay." She reassured her, wide eyes staring at the wall over Maggie's shoulder. She found it hard to believe that such a thought had really crossed through her friend's mind, but knew that people reacted to grief differently. Maggie was a good person; even good people had dark thoughts.

"I forgive you." She said, though there was nothing to really forgive. She didn't want Maggie to think she resented her when she didn't.

Thea was sure if their roles were reversed she may have thought the same way. She was not as good a person as the remaining member of the Greene family.

* * *

 **A/N: So, I found out that there were 30 whole days from the end of "No Way Out" and "The Next World". I will not be stretching out those 30 days for very long, but I will do at least one more chapter with just the time in between. I'm going to jump around so that we can see how Alexandria rebuilds and regroups after everything they have been through.**

 **Also, I promise that I have a lot of plans for Thearyl (Thea & Daryl's ship name!) in the next couple of chapters, so stay tuned! :)**


	30. River

**A/N: Really no excuse for the long wait this time, I'm just a terrible person. Please forgive me and enjoy this chapter, which I've filled with lots of Thearyl goodness to make up for my lateness.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

"We have to go back! We can't leave them!" Thea exclaimed as she slammed her foot on the gas pedal and peeled out of the parking lot. The Bronco they had hotwired a few miles back careened around a corner and reminded her of the way the prison bus had gone topsy-turvy when she had been escaping the prison.

In the passenger seat, Daryl shook his head. Turning around to watch behind them to see if they were being followed. "We can't. They'll find another way." He argued.

Thea took a moment to turn his way, flabbergasted that he was saying that. They had come on this run to get supplies for the clinic and things had gone awry. The men who had shot at them before, when they'd been captured by Dwight, Sherry, and Tina, had found them again somehow and attacked them. Rick, Michonne, and Glenn had been left behind in the delivery truck they had been ransacking. And now Daryl wanted to just _leave them?_

"What?" She demanded, eyes still on his dirty face.

Before he could explain, his eyes widened and he pointed towards the windshield to get her attention back on the road. "Watch it!" He exclaimed.

There was a massive herd in the middle of the road. Thea let out a shriek as she jerked the wheel to the left in order to avoid hitting the group, which would have rendered the car immobile and them stuck. The left side tires went over the edge of the pavement and slid through mud and she was unable to correct the vehicle in time.

"Shit!" She exclaimed as the Bronco plowed through a copse of trees, narrowly missing the thin trucks.

On the other side of the trees, however, was a lake. They didn't have a second to react before the Bronco plunged headlong into the dark water. The car took on a weightless feeling for several seconds before it began to sink deeper into the lake, the water seeping inside from the cracks of the doors.

Thea's first instinct was to bail. She reached for the door handle, but Daryl's hand grabbed her other arm to stop her.

"Wait. If we get out, they'll see us." He said, eyes glancing behind them.

"The walkers or the guys with guns?" She asked, her own eyes glued on the windshield as the waterline rose.

Water was coming through the vents, seemingly in slow motion.

"Both."

So, what were they supposed to do? Wait for the windows to break and drown?

Her heart was pounding in her chest. She could feel it, this was the moment she was going to die. Trapped in a submerged vehicle, waiting for her time to come with Daryl Dixon by her side. She couldn't take her eyes off the windshield. They were completely underwater now, it was only a matter of time before the pressure became too much and the windshield busted.

"Daryl." She whispered, as if speaking too loudly would shatter the glass. Her eyes were watering.

The water that was coming through the vents was up to their waist now and she began to shiver.

"Just wait." He responded equally as quiet.

She didn't want to argue. Daryl was not a stupid man, he knew what he was doing. And he certainly wouldn't let them die. Unfortunately, her body didn't think the same. She could feel how tight her chest was, could feel the tears pricking the corners of her eyes, feel the way her chest heaved with every frightened breath.

Was this the way it ended?

A low sound suddenly filled the vehicle. Like ice slowly cracking under the weight of someone's foot, a long crack was beginning to spread across the windshield. Water seeped through it, trickling like a leaky faucet.

Daryl's hand was still on her arm and as she gasped in fear, she felt his fingers tighten. He was there with her. He would stay there with her even as it all came crashing down around them.

This was the way it ended.

The crack reached over halfway across the glass and suddenly it couldn't take the pressure anymore. It shattered.

Water and glass came rushing into their faces.

For a moment, everything seemed to be still, like time had frozen the moment the Bronco was filled completely with water. She could still feel Daryl's hand on her arm, but the water was so dark that she couldn't see him when she turned to look into the passenger's seat.

Thea had managed to take in a large gulp of oxygen before the windshield had shattered, but even as she held it in she could feel her lungs begging for release. She couldn't stay in her seat much longer.

Seeming to sense that she was close to panicking, she felt Daryl tug on her arm. He pulled her from her seat and she realized he was already halfway through the open windshield. She grabbed his arm in a vice-like grip, afraid that if she let him go he would disappear in the dark water and she'd never see him again.

As he pulled her through the opening and into the open water, she set her feet on the hood of the Bronco and they were both standing there beneath the water. Daryl's left arm wrapped around her waist and he tugged her arm with his right hand upwards, indicating they were going to the surface, together. Her arm was around his shoulders and she twisted a hand in his shirt tightly.

They both pushed off from the hood and began to swim together to the surface. As they got closer, the water grew lighter and she was able to finally see again. Not that there was much but murky water to look at.

Her lungs were ready to burst and she was desperate for air. The surface was so close and she kicked her legs harder and harder. The arm that wasn't around Daryl's shoulders was reaching upwards in a vain attempt to feel the open air and just when she thought they wouldn't make it in time, her fingers broke the surface.

The pair burst from the water simultaneously. Thea gulped in oxygen too early and water entered her lungs, sending her into a coughing fit. Daryl began swimming to the shore, dragging her along with him as she choked.

He got them onto solid ground and she dropped to her knees on the muddy bank, coughing the last of the water out of her lungs.

"Alright?" Daryl grumbled, shaking water out of his hair.

Thea's face was stinging in a few spots where the glass from the windshield must have cut her, but other than that she was fine. Thanks to Daryl. She nodded, eyeing a small cut on his neck where the glass had gotten him, too.

The trees they had plowed through in the car began to rustle and Daryl ripped his crossbow off his back and aimed at the ready, not seeming fazed by the water dripping into his eyes from his hair.

Thea struggled to her feet, yanking her knife from its sheath and preparing for the worst: walkers or the armed gang.

Instead of either of the two, it was Glenn who came through the brush, followed by Rick and Michonne.

"Oh, thank god," Glenn sighed. "We saw you go off the road, heard the splash."

"You guys alright?" Rick asked.

Daryl nodded, glancing back at Thea. "Yeah, we're alright."

Thea put her knife away and stepped forward. "We better get moving before those guys find us again." She noted, hoping that they had managed to shake their attackers, but not wanting to risk it.

"Yeah, let's get moving." Rick agreed.

* * *

Thea sucked in air quickly and choked on her own spit. She sat up in bed and coughed until she was sure she wasn't going to drown in saliva and heaved in relief. She'd dreamed about crashing into the lake again.

It had been so real that her chest was still tight, as if she was still in the Bronco waiting to die.

Standing, she slipped a light jacket over her tank top and exited her bedroom, creeping down the stairs. Perhaps some fresh air would do her some good, or maybe a cigarette if a certain someone was on the porch like he usually was.

As suspected, Daryl was sitting on the porch railing with a cigarette between his lips. He always seemed to be there whenever she came outside at night, and she wondered how much sleep he actually got himself.

"Hey," she greeted quietly, hopping up on the railing beside him. "Got another one of those?"

He grunted, as usual, and held the one he'd been smoking out to her. "Last one."

She stared at the offered cigarette and wondered if she should take it. Should she deprive him of a whole cigarette, his _last_ cigarette? Would it be weird if she agreed to share it? Then again, he _had_ offered it, so maybe he didn't find it weird at all.

Their fingers brushed as she took it from him, bringing it to her own lips and taking a drag off of it before passing it back. It felt too good, and if her past self knew she would get into stress smoking she would probably vomit.

She tried not to think about it too much when his lips wrapped around the cigarette again, the same way hers had moments before. Or how they were sitting so close that her thigh was pressed against his.

"How's your sister?" He asked, suddenly.

The reminder only made her chest tighten more and she reached for the cigarette again. "She's still unconscious. I don't really know what to do." She admitted, taking another drag.

"She gonna wake up?"

Truth be told, she didn't know if Cat would ever wake up. This kind of thing was easier to figure out with modern technology, but they weren't fortunate enough to have the equipment they needed. Now, it was just a waiting game.

"It's been a week," She shook her head. "I don't know if she's going to wake up or if she's even _in there_ anymore."

He returned the cigarette to her and sighed, a puff of smoke billowing out around their heads.

"And Hank keeps asking about her. What do I say to him if she dies? How am I even supposed to take care of him?" She puffed on the cigarette and returned it to him. It was one drag away from its end, but she was so stressed it wasn't helping anyway.

Daryl finished off the cigarette and tossed it into the street. "He been to see her?"

She shook her head. "No, no. I don't want him to see her like that."

Laying in the hospital bed, pale and hooked up to an IV, Cat looked almost dead. She didn't want Hank to be scared.

A scoff came from beside her. "Last time the kid saw her she was bleeding out. You want that to be the last time he ever sees his mom?"

It hadn't clicked with Thea yet that the last time Hank saw Cat, she was dying.

She rolled her eyes. "Yet another reason why it's a good thing I didn't have children before the world ended. I clearly don't know a thing about them." She buried her face in her hands and groaned, shaking her head. How had Daryl figured it out before her?

"Been a stressful week." Daryl commented, and she realized that she had said that last part out loud.

It was the understatement of the year and she let out a bitter laugh. "Yeah, that's one way to put it." Scratching the back of her neck, she sighed. "I guess I'll take him to the clinic in the morning…let him sit with her for a little bit."

Next door, boots sounded on the wooden porch and both Thea and Daryl turned to see who it was. Rick was coming out with his Python on his hip, eyes scanning the street. He was down the steps and crossing the yard to their porch in seconds.

"Ready?" He asked, eyeing how they were sitting together on the railing.

Thea frowned for a second before Daryl grunted in response and slipped off the railing. It must have been time for a shift change. They were working on patching up the holes in the walls and making them stronger, until construction was completed they had round the clock guards stationed to keep an eye out for more members of the group that had attacked Alexandria.

Daryl pulled his crossbow onto his back from where it had been resting against the side of the house before nodding in her direction and following Rick down to the street.

"Get some rest," Rick called back to her, a small smile on his face. "You look like shit."

She couldn't stop the chuckle that came out. "Yeah, thanks a lot." She replied, shaking her head.

She watched until they had made it down the street and out of sight before she went back inside, hoping she wouldn't have another nightmare.

* * *

The next morning Thea found herself walking down Aaron's porch steps with Hank's little hand grasped firmly in hers. She had woken up early and taken Daryl's advice to heart; it was time to let the child see his mother.

"Thanks again for keeping him," she spoke to Eric as she turned to glance back at him. He was standing in the doorway watching them leave. "I wasn't in the best place."

He waved a hand at her. "Don't worry about it, really. Anytime you need us to watch him, we are up for it. We love the little guy."

Thea smiled, it was hard not to like Hank after spending time with him. He was a very sweet and surprisingly smart kid. "Thanks again."

She was nervous to let Hank see Cat, so she let him set the pace they took to the clinic. They ended up on a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood streets with the toddler chattering the whole way. He was excited to see his mother, but also excited that Thea had finally come to get him from Aaron and Eric's house.

"I wike them, but I miss you." He said, still unable to properly say his 'L's.

She smiled down at him. "I missed you, too, Hank."

They finally made it to the clinic and she almost froze up before they could go in. How would Henry react to seeing his mother in a bed looking practically lifeless? Would he be upset? Would he understand what was happening?

She couldn't freeze up though, because if she did then she would never bring him and Daryl's words would ring true; Hank's final memory of his mom might be of her bleeding out.

Ultimately, the little boy's reaction wasn't what she expected. He ran to Cat's bedside immediately with a huge grin on his face. Thea had to remind him to be careful as he jumped onto the bed and hugged Cat's unconscious form tightly before he began talking animatedly to her as if she were awake and listening.

She should have talked to Daryl sooner than last night and prevented Hank from having any worry.

Leaving Hank with Cat, she wandered to the other side of the clinic to check on a man who was laying in one of the makeshift hospital beds. He had been injured on the run to clear the quarry and, though he was going to make it, he was still on bed rest to heal better.

She lifted the blanket to check on how the wound on his leg was healing, glancing back to make sure Hank was okay before prodding the skin around the wound with two fingers to check the temperature and stiffness. Everything seemed to be healing normally so she covered him back up and sighed heavily.

She was so tired. She hadn't been able to go back to sleep after her talk with Daryl on the porch. She'd gone upstairs but could do nothing more than toss and turn and huff at the ceiling before she had given up and ended up deep cleaning the kitchen until the sun had come up.

It was infuriating to not be in control of one's own head.

She wasn't the only one with issues though. Carl was still trying to adjust to life with one eye, Deanna had been killed when the walkers had breached Alexandria's walls and a lot of the community was grieving that loss, along with multiple others. She had Cat to worry about, but she wasn't the only person who had been hurt.

The door to the clinic opened and Abraham came storming in, an angry expression on his face.

"Everything alright?" She asked, alarmed.

The large man planted himself on one of the empty beds and lifted his hand to show her the blood that streaked it. He didn't look too _hurt_ , but he sure looked displeased.

Thea grabbed some gauze from the cabinet and rushed to his side. "What happened?" She asked, though she had a few guesses. He had been helping with the construction all week. They were expanding the walls to include a small church that was just outside of Alexandria, along with adding a few security measures around the fences.

"Had an incident with a saw." He grumbled, eyes wandering over to where Hank was still sitting on Cat's bed. He must have heard the little boy still rambling on to his mother.

Thea took his hand in to her own, examining the small cut that ran from the bottom knuckle of his thumb around to the inside of his hand, like he had been sawing at something and caught his thumb in the process. It was small, but deep enough that she may need to close it with a few stitches.

She ripped open an alcohol pad and began to clean the wound to get a better look at it.

"Probably going to need a few stitches." She warned him.

He didn't respond and when she glanced up at him she noticed he was still watching her nephew. She wondered why he seemed to be so fixated on the toddler. She didn't know much about Abraham outside of the fact that he was a military man with an incredibly colorful vocabulary and serious loyalty.

She found a needle and some thread, sterilized the needle, and returned to his side. "I think I can close it with two or three."

Sutures had always been fun for her in medical school and she had gotten pretty good at them. She made quick work of stitching his hand, only needing two precisely placed stitches to close. She cleaned the blood off his hand and then wrapped it up with the gauze.

The whole time, the man's attention was stuck on Hank.

Frowning curiously, Thea crossed her arms and sat on the bed across from Abraham.

"You okay?" She wondered.

He was quiet for a moment before responding. "Did you know I had kids once?"

It surprised her. They didn't share much with each other. She had never really hung out with him except for if he was with Rosita and they hadn't exactly started on the best of terms. What shocked her the most though, was the use of the word _once_. His kids were dead.

She shook her head slowly. This was a delicate conversation. "No, I didn't know that." She replied.

"A.J. and Becca." He said with a short nod. He looked down at his freshly wrapped hand.

Thea wasn't sure if he was going to continue or if that was the end of the conversation, but she stayed silent. If he wanted to talk about it, she would listen.

Finally, he spoke again as his eyes found Hank. "I remember when they were his age. All bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. They'd disappear into the backyard for hours and when we finally got them back inside they'd be covered in mud, shit-eating grins on their faces."

She smiled softly. It was almost like he was revealing more of himself even if he was just talking about his children. She could tell he missed them and that he still loved them to death. Her heart hurt knowing he had more than likely watched them die.

"A.J. used to catch frogs and throw 'em in Becca's hair. Trying to scare her, you know? But she was tough as nails, she'd throw 'em back at him."

She had a feeling A.J. was short for 'Abraham Junior' and maybe Becca's name was Rebecca. The thought that the gruff soldier before her had a little family with an 'A.J.' and a 'Becca' was incredibly humanizing.

He turned the conversation around, like he realized how nostalgic he had become. "He doing all right?"

Thea's eyes found Hank. He was laying with his head resting on Cat's shoulder, close to passing out, and she smiled.

"I hope so." She answered quietly. She was terrified that he would be completely screwed up growing up in a world like this, but thankful that he was still going to grow up.

Rising to his feet, Abraham cleared his throat. The conversation about his children was apparently over.

"Thanks for patching me up, doc." He said before swiftly exiting the clinic.

She was left wondering what had happened to little A.J. and Becca and knowing that she would never find out.

* * *

That night Hank was sleeping upstairs in Thea's room when she found herself on the porch again with Daryl. It was becoming a regular occurrence for them, these nightly chats, and she was glad to have someone to talk to who didn't sugarcoat things for her.

"So, you were right." She was saying as she stood against the railing, arms crossed over her chest.

Daryl was sitting on the porch floor, messing with his crossbow. She wasn't quite sure what he was doing, but if the way his face was scrunched was any indication, it was irritating him.

"Taking Hank to see Cat was the right thing to do. I thought that he would get upset seeing her like that, but I think it made him feel better."

The archer grumbled as his thumb was pinched on the crossbow and he brought it to his mouth for a moment before setting the weapon aside and standing, moving to lean against the railing beside her and glaring at the bow where it lay.

She ignored his gruffness. "He liked seeing her, I think it reassured him that she's going to be okay."

"Why do ya still sound like she's gonna die, then?" He asked.

There he went reading her like a book.

The doctor huffed. "Because I don't know if she's going to make it or not. She's been out for so long and I don't know if it's because she's already brain dead or not. It's infuriated not being able to tell if she's still _in there_."

Chewing on his bottom lip, he squinted at her for a long moment in thought. "If she ain't, wouldn't she be a walker?"

She'd thought about that, but she wasn't sure how the turning process worked if someone was brain dead. "I-I don't know. I don't know if it would work the same. I mean…" she shook her head. "I don't know."

"Is there another reason why she ain't waking up? Other than being brain dead?"

Thea took a deep breath. Medically speaking there were several reasons why Cat wasn't waking up and yet she was fixated on the worst one. It was funny that it took Daryl asking a simple question for her to really think about things from a doctor's point of view.

Maybe that was why she kept talking to him about these things.

"Well, her body could be taking the time to heal. Keeping her unconscious to focus all of its energy on healing."

He knocked his shoulder against hers. "She's gonna be fine." He told her matter-of-factly.

She wasn't sure why or how he seemed to be so sure of that, but she liked that he had enough confidence in Cat's survival for the both of them.

"Here." He said, pulling something out of his back pocket. When he offered it to her, she noticed it was a semi-crumpled pack of cigarettes. The top had been ripped off and she could see there was only one left in the pack.

She smirked at him and took it from his hand. "I thought you said you were out?"

He shrugged one shoulder. "Found it in the church."

She eyed the lone cigarette. He had been in the church early this morning, so he had been carrying the pack around all day. Why had he saved it for her when she was sure that he would have enjoyed smoking it?

Since he'd shared his last cig with her last night, she pulled this one from the package and held it up with a smile. "We'll share it."

* * *

A week later Cat still hadn't woken up, but her wound had healed significantly; Thea had high hopes that she would be rousing from her little coma soon.

The walls had been repaired completely and the Alexandrians were now working on fortifying the outside of the community. Someone had suggested placing spikes around the perimeter to keep walkers from building up against the walls, which most of the construction crew were working on. It looked like they may be able to make this place scary enough that no one would dare approach.

From the outside, Alexandria looked like the kind of place she would have avoided when she was on her own; that was exactly what they wanted. If they could prevent another attack by making the place look like a mad-house, that was perfect. They needed to stay safe.

Thea was walking down the street trying to rub the dirt off her hands when she heard her name called. She turned her head but didn't stop walking when she noticed the person calling out to her was Eric. He was standing on his porch up ahead waving her down with a large smile.

"Hey, Eric," she beamed, course correcting to his front steps. Eric was one of the people in Alexandria she genuinely liked; he and Aaron had never shown any malice or been uninviting to her and her group. On top of that, they had been a huge help with Hank even before Cat was injured.

"Hey, any news on Cat?" Eric wondered.

Hank was playing on the porch behind him with some Lincoln logs that she had no recollection of anyone obtaining. She shook her head. "Nothing new. She's healed a lot better but still not awake."

The man nodded solemnly before clearing his throat. "So, Aaron and I were thinking that you should come over for dinner tonight. Nothing major, just eat some food and drink some wine. Hank can stay here so you don't have to lug him back to your place after."

The idea of having a good time while her sister was recovering didn't feel completely right, but she _had_ been doing nothing but stressing about it for the past two and a half weeks. Maybe she needed something normal to help her forget how exhausting life was at the moment.

"You know, that sounds perfect, actually." She replied with a nod. "I could probably use a break from hovering over her bed, anyways."

Eric beamed at her, clapping his hands together. "Great! Then we'll see you and Daryl tonight at six!"

She narrowed her eyes. He was up to something, she could sense it. "Daryl?"

He waved her off. "Yeah, Aaron invited Daryl over. Did I not mention that?"

 _No,_ he hadn't mentioned that. Something about the way his face was told her that he was definitely trying to pull something and she couldn't figure out what it was. Why would he not tell her Daryl was coming until after she'd agreed to come? It wasn't like she would have said no knowing that the archer was coming, she didn't mind having Daryl as company.

"No, you didn't mention that." She crossed her arms over her chest. "What are you up to?"

"Up to? I'm not up to anything, I don't know what you mean, Thea."

Her eyes were narrowed and she nibbled on her bottom lip as she tried to figure out exactly what was going on. They stared each other down for a minute before she gave up. It wasn't like whatever Eric's plan was would matter anyway, she was coming tonight whether Daryl did or not.

She sighed, shaking her head with a small laugh. "Sure, okay. I'll see you at six."

* * *

"Hey, you ready?" Thea asked as she stepped into the kitchen where Daryl was standing with Rosita and Glenn.

The other woman turned and frowned in confusion. Her eyes wandered over the clean jeans and the lavender colored blouse she had changed into before settling on her hair, which she had washed and left down in waves over her shoulders. It wasn't really dressing up, but she felt weird showing up at another person's house for dinner looking like she'd just rolled in the dirt.

Daryl didn't seem to mind that, though, as he still wore the same clothes he'd been wearing all day: a pair of jeans and his usual shirt and vest combo, hair hanging into his eyes.

"Ready for what?" Rosita asked.

Thea shrugged and motioned towards Daryl. "Aaron and Eric invited us to dinner."

Again, Rosita's face held suspicion. "They invited you to dinner?"

"That's what I just said…" Thea trailed off, not sure where this was going.

Rosita's eyes moved between the archer and the doctor. "Just the two of you?"

She didn't like the way Rosita's face had lit up, she was up to something. "I mean, Hank will be there."

Rosita and Glenn exchanged glances that had Thea rolling her eyes. She crossed the kitchen with a sigh, placing a hand on Daryl's shoulder to steer him out of the room. "Let's get out of here."

"Enjoy your double date!" Rosita called after them as Thea pushed the archer out the door.

The doctor turned to glare at the pair watching them. "It's not a date!"

As Glenn opened his mouth to protest, Thea slammed the door shut.

* * *

"So, Thea, I don't think you ever told me how you and Daryl met? You didn't know each other before the world ended, right?" Eric asked, sipping his wine.

They had finished eating, Hank was asleep upstairs and they were sitting around the table drinking and talking. Well, Aaron, Eric, and Thea were talking; Daryl had only spoken a few words, which wasn't unusual for him.

Thea shook her head. "We met after." She answered, sending a smirk Daryl's way. "He actually almost shot me in the head with an arrow."

"Thought you were a walker." Daryl spoke up.

She laughed. "Yeah, and you thankfully missed by several inches."

He shook his head. "Would'a hit you if you hadn't ducked."

"Oh, I don't doubt that. Thank god I have fast reflexes."

Eric let out a chuckle from behind his wine glass, exchanging a look with his significant other. "Why did he shoot at you?"

Thea shrugged. "I was in a pharmacy getting medicine and Daryl and Michonne showed up looking for the same. I almost got away, but Tyrese was blocking the alley and Zack tackled me…."

She trailed off at the mention of the two deceased men. She hadn't known Zack very well, but she had considered Tyrese a very close friend. Family even. She missed him.

"So that's when you joined them on the road?" Aaron asked, seeming to notice how her mood had dropped slightly.

Thea sat up straighter in her chair and took a sip of wine, eyes moving to Daryl for a moment. He was finishing off his own glass and Eric was quick to refill it.

"They were set up at this prison. It was kind of the perfect spot, giant fences with barbed wire and four towers to keep watch from." Minus the violent rapist that was living there, and the plague-like flu that had eradicated nearly an entire cell block.

Eric hummed in approval, or curiosity. "Why did you guys leave it?"

Thea was silent, unsure of how to say it. How would she be able to tell them that some prick had come along and murdered some good people just to have the place, only to be killed and lose the prison to walkers in the end?

Daryl spoke up for her. "It wasn't exactly our choice."

She nodded slowly. "When you've got something that good…other people want it, too."

As the mood seemed to be shot, a quiet noise came from the hallway before Hank appeared. He was wearing a pair of camo pajama pants and a shirt with a little tractor on the front, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he yawned so big that it looked like his mouth might swallow his whole face.

"What are you doing up?" Eric asked, smiling at the child.

Hank's socked feet moved down the hardwood floor until he reached Thea at the table and attempted to crawl up into her lap. She chuckled and set her wine glass on the table and pulled him onto her lap, wrapping her arms around him as he snuggled against her.

"Can I sleep at your house?" He asked in a tiny, sleepy voice.

She carded her fingers through his wild, blond curls. "Of course." She responded softly.

Her eyes traveled to the hosts of the evening and she offered them an apologetic smile. "I suppose that's my cue to leave. I should probably get him to bed."

Hank had already fallen asleep with his head resting on her chest and she wrapped one arm underneath his bottom and the other around his back to hold him against her as she stood. Aaron, who was seated beside her, stood and pulled her chair back out of her way.

"Thank you, guys, for dinner." She smiled at the couple. She was glad that they had invited her over; she was in need of something to take her mind off the stress of Cat's situation.

"Anytime, we'll have to make this a thing!" Eric exclaimed, patting her on the back as she passed by.

Aaron opened the door for her and they all said their goodbyes before she stepped onto the porch, Daryl close behind. She held Hank close as she craned her neck to see the steps; she could feel Daryl lingering at the top of the porch behind her as if he was waiting for her to fall.

She managed to reach the sidewalk without tripping and they began walking in the direction of their house. They were silent for a long moment as Thea listen to Hank's deep breathing in her ear. Holding him in her arms as he slept felt natural and she found it hard not to imagine what it would have been like if the world had never ended and she had ended up with kids of her own. Now that would never happen, she couldn't bring a child into the world with the way things were now.

"Did you ever think about having kids? I mean, before…in the old world?" She found herself asking Daryl before she could stop the words from leaving her mouth.

He didn't respond at first and she thought perhaps she had asked something too personal.

Finally, he shrugged one shoulder. "Nah."

It was all he said and she should have just left it at that, but her curiosity got the better of her. "Why not?"

He shrugged again. "Just never thought about it. 'Sides, Merle and I were living in a piece of shit trailer, doin' whatever he decided we'd be doin' each day. Kid can't live like that."

She hadn't heard him talk about his brother since the prison and she wondered if he missed him. She knew better than to ask that, though.

"How 'bout you? You think about kids?" He asked her as she was lost in thought.

"Hmm? I guess. I mean, I didn't want any right away, but I definitely wanted kids in the future. But now, I guess that will never happen."

It made her sad to think of all the possible futures she had been robbed of. She had her whole life planned out: she'd become a successful surgeon, marry a great man, have several children, and retire when she was too old to hold a scalpel without her hands shaking. It would have been the perfect life, but it wasn't in the cards for her.

The pair fell silent as they reached the block their house was on. She could see lights on in the living room indicating that someone was still awake. She wondered exactly what time it was. Funny, she hadn't worried about what time it was for so long and then when they'd joined Alexandria she suddenly found herself looking at the clock again.

Time always found a way of catching up to them.

* * *

Thea was beginning to worry. It had been an entire month and Cat was still not awake. Her wound was well healed, and yet the woman was still comatose. Thea didn't quite know what she was supposed to be doing anymore. In the old world, she would have an entire hospital of doctors to consult and they could have used the equipment available to figure out what was going on in the blonde's head, but now she was alone.

Alexandria had evolved in the month since the attack. The walls were reinforced, the security measures outside them had been upped, and Maggie and some of the others had started a garden. Unfortunately, Alexandria was running low on food. They hadn't had much luck scavenging and tensions were escalating.

Rick and Daryl were going on a run, in hopes of finding supplies. Thea had put a few medical items on the list before passing it off to Denise. The psychologist had been a big help with the clinic and had started an incredible detailed inventory; Thea knew she would add anything she had missed.

"Hey!" Daryl called out to her. She had decided to take a walk around the neighborhood to clear her head, hoping it would get her mind thinking of solutions for her sister.

She crossed the grass to where he was leaning against a house. "What's up?"

He held out a piece of paper. It was the list from the clinic. "The last thing. That's not medicine, is it?"

Thea scanned the list until her eyes found the last item: _Orange Fanta_. She chuckled. "No, that's not medical at all. Denise must have put it on there. Maybe she misses it?"

Daryl's head turned as he caught something in his peripheral vision. It was Denise, heading down the street in their direction. He pushed off the wall of the house and started towards her.

"Hey," he called out to get her attention.

Thea followed behind him, curious to see why Denise had added the drink to her list. Besides, she had nothing better to do.

"Yes." Denise stated, letting him know he had her attention.

Daryl held up the list. "This thing at the bottom here. You're talking about the drink, right?"

"I am, but…" She trailed off with a shrug.

Daryl squinted at her. "It's not medical."

She shook her head. "No, I drew a line between the important stuff and that. I just figured, if you saw it."

"All right." Daryl shrugged.

Denise wasn't done. "Anything remotely medical is a priority. And food, maybe even food before medicine, and gas or batteries or books for the kids or clothes is just—if you see it, if it just happens to, you know, be right there."

"You like it, right?" Daryl asked.

She shook her head. "No, I don't drink pop."

"What the hell is pop?"

"Oh, I'm originally from Ohio." Denise responded, as if that answered his question.

He moved on. "Why do you want it?"

The woman paused for a moment before beginning to explain. "Tara was talking about it in her sleep, I think." She adjusted her glasses on her nose. "Either she likes it or she doesn't, but if she likes it, it'd be a really nice surprise. I'm not good with that kind of stuff, and she and Heath are going on that two-week run. I just thought it'd be a nice going-away present. Just, uh, don't go out of your way."

Daryl held up both hands, palms up, as if to say things were getting awkward and he would look for the drink. Denise's rambling seemed to make him nervous.

"And if it gives you any trouble…" She finished.

"I won't."

Thea stifled a laugh. Watching a conversation between these two was comical; they were both very socially awkward.

"Okay, good, 'cause it's not important."

They began to go their separate ways, both clearly wanting to conversation to be over.

"I should have said so instead of just drawing the line." Denise continued.

Daryl turned away and threw his thumb up at her over his shoulder. "Got it." He said, walking in the opposite direction.

Thea couldn't help but shake her head and laugh as she followed the archer. He and Rick were leaving as soon as possible.

"You guys are about to head out, right?" she asked, catching up to him.

Daryl nodded, not bothering to slow his pace. "Gonna go further out this time."

She didn't have a good feeling about this. The last time anyone had gone out for supplies, they had been run off by the same shooters that had been after Dwight and Sherry. She didn't like the idea of Rick and Daryl going further out and potentially running into them again.

"What if you run into those guys with the guns again? We barely got away last time." She protested.

He shrugged. "Better us than anyone here."

She begged to differ. "How about no one gets killed? I mean, Rick has Carl and Judith here. You've got…people here who care about you. If you two don't come back, what are we supposed to do?"

What was _she_ supposed to do if Daryl didn't come back? She had grown closer to him over the past month than she had anticipated. She _cared_ for him.

They approached the gate where Rick was waiting by a dark Dodge Charger.

"We'll be back." Daryl commented, tossing his crossbow into the floorboard of the passenger's side and facing her. "You worried?" He asked, almost teasingly.

Thea crossed her arms and tried to ignore the fact that she _was_ quite worried. "No. There just happens to be a lot of people here counting on you guys."

"Mmhmm, sure." He nodded, looking thoroughly unconvinced; he could tell she was worried despite her trying to hide it.

Sighing heavily, she glanced at Rick, who was speaking with Abraham on the other side of the car. "Just…just be careful, okay? Those guys could still be out there and the third run-in could be the time they finally get the upper hand."

He chewed on his bottom lip before nodding. "You watch your backs, too. Those Wolves might still be around somewhere."

"You worried?" She teased, repeating his own words back to him.

Again, he shrugged one shoulder. He opened the car door as Rick climbed into the driver's seat. "Nah, you can take care of yourself." He said quickly.

He got into the Charger and shut the door before more could be said and she sighed, watching as Rick drove through the gates and away from Alexandria. It wasn't until the gates were shut and she couldn't see the car anymore that she turned away.

* * *

At the clinic, Thea was trying her best to not shake Cat's shoulders uncontrollably and smack her in the face to try and wake her up. It was her only remaining option, or at least the only one left she hadn't tried. Sitting at the counter staring across the room at her bed wasn't helping one bit.

Rosita slammed a book down on the counter in front of her and she jumped, startled. The Latina rested her elbows on the book and smirked at the doctor.

"So, what's going on with you and Daryl?" She asked, her face looking as if she was about to find out some juicy gossip.

Frowning, Thea took the conversation as a welcome distraction. "What are you talking about?"

Rosita rolled her eyes. "Don't play coy with me, Thea. I know something is going on, you guys are always together."

She shrugged and scoffed, eyes traveling over the clinic before settling on Rosita's. "We're friends."

With a raised eyebrow, the other woman let out a disbelieving laugh. "You're _friends_? So, friends go on double dates and share cigarettes at two a.m. while having deep, meaningful conversations?" At Thea's surprised face, she pointed a finger in her direction. "Oh, I've seen you guys. You think you can sit on the porch right below my room and I won't hear you?"

She didn't know what to say. Clearly Rosita seemed to be under the impression that something more was going on with her and Daryl. "I—first of all, dinner with Aaron and Eric was _not_ a double date! How many times do I have to say that? And just because we talk doesn't mean we're not friends."

"Daryl Dixon doesn't have deep, meaningful conversations with anyone but you. At least not that I've seen." Rosita objected. "And it **was** a double date, because that's what Eric told me."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Wait, Eric told you it was a double date? How can it be a double date if Daryl and I aren't even a thing?"

"Because you two are stubborn as hell and can't see what's right in front of you!"

Thea fell silent. The two women locked eyes and she wasn't sure what to say. How was she supposed to argue with Rosita over this when she was making a hell of a lot of sense? She _did_ care a lot about Daryl. And she found it hard to talk to others the way she talked to him. It was weird how he always seemed to know the right thing to say, how he always seemed to have this unwavering faith in her even when she felt like she was failing at everything. She had always attributed it to how much they had both been through, how damaged they both were.

"And now you have nothing to say because you know it's the truth." Rosita spoke calmly.

Thea shook her head. "I don't know anything, Rosita."

She couldn't deal with this right now, it was too much. She brushed the hair that had fallen out of her messy bun out of her face and rounded the counter as if she was going to leave the clinic, but a voice calling her name stopped her.

She turned back to Rosita with a sigh, but the other woman hadn't spoken.

There was only one other person in the clinic.

Thea's eyes widened about the same time Rosita's did and they both turned towards the bed in the far corner that had been occupied the longest.

Cat's eyes were open, her head turned to face them as she frowned in confusion.

"What happened?" she asked, her voice hoarse as she tried to speak through a dry throat.

Thea's hand flew to cover her mouth as tears burst from her eyes. She almost didn't believe that it was actually happening, even as her feet moved her across the clinic to stand beside the bed. Cat had finally woken up. She was okay.

"Oh, my god." Rosita spoke breathlessly behind her.

Cat's brow was furrowed. She didn't understand what was going on. Her eyes traveled over the room and she seemed to realize where she was; her hand reached for her abdomen, where she'd been stabbed.

"What happened?" She asked again, more urgently this time.

Wiping furiously at the tears on her face, Thea took in a shaky breath. "You were stabbed. We weren't sure if you were going to make it."

Cat seemed to think for a moment before it came back to her. Her eyebrows rose high on her forehead. "There were men attacking Alexandria. Oh, god. I saw them kill Mrs. Jones and then one of them got in." Her breathing grew heavy and she attempted to sit up. "Where's Hank? Where is he?" She demanded.

With a hand on her shoulder, Thea effortlessly pushed the much weaker woman back down on the bed. "Hank's fine, Cat. He's okay."

Rosita held a glass of water out for the blonde to take a drink from. As she took a sip, the Latina spoke up. "It's been a month since the attack, Cat."

Swallowing hard, the younger Ellis sibling gasped. "What? I've been out that long? Oh, god. Is Hank-?"

Thea cut her off. "—He's fine, I promise."

Cat rested her head back on her pillow, eyes trained on the ceiling as she whispered. "Those men…I killed one of them."

"He deserved it." Rosita was quick to point out.

Thea shot her a look. She suspected that this had been Cat's first time killing another person and from what she knew of it, even if the person deserved to be killed it still weighed heavy on one's mind.

She placed a hand on her sister's shoulder reassuringly. "He wasn't a good person, Cat. He would have killed you and Hank and maybe more. You did the right thing." She murmured softly.

"It was your only option." Rosita added helpfully.

It didn't seem to ease the haunted look in Catherine's eyes, but she relaxed slightly knowing that she might have saved others with what she did.

"Where is Hank?" She wondered, glancing around the clinic.

Rosita exchanged a look with Thea before nodding. "He's at school. I can go get him if you want?"

Cat nodded slowly. "I want to see him."

"Thank you." Thea stated appreciatively. She didn't want to leave her sister's side, but she wanted Hank to see his mother finally better.

The dark-haired woman smiled softly. "Of course. I'll be right back."

As she left the clinic, Thea sat on the edge of the bed and smiled at her sister. "I'm so glad you're awake. I thought you were going to be a vegetable forever." She laughed, tried to make the mood lighter.

Cat smirked. "And leave my kid in your care? You couldn't even keep a cactus alive."

Thea scoffed. "That was an accident! I overwatered it on _accident_."

As the two laughed lightly, she realized how good it felt to finally have the weight of stressing over Cat's recovery off her shoulders.

It felt _good_ to have her sister back.

* * *

That night, Thea had reluctantly left Cat at the clinic with Denise and Tara to monitor her should any problems arise. She wasn't quite ready to come home, having been in a coma for a month, but Thea couldn't spend another night sleeping there either.

She wanted to be in her own bed again.

Being back in bed didn't help her, though. Daryl and Rick hadn't returned yet and she was worried something had happened. Had she gotten her sister back only to lose two friends in return?

Was life really that cruel?

Pacing to her bedroom window again, she got her answer. Daryl was coming down the street. He had come from the direction opposite the gate, so he and Rick must have stopped off somewhere in town. Maybe they had supplies they'd needed to drop off?

Pulling on a dark green zip-up hoodie, she crept down the stairs so as not to wake the other occupants of the house. She made it to the porch just as he did and she grinned.

"Hey, you guys made it back!" She exclaimed quietly.

He seemed grumpier than usual.

"What's up?" She asked, frowning as she zipped her hoodie closed to fight the night air.

Daryl sighed and shook his head once. "Had to bring back a prisoner. He tried to steal a truck of supplies from us and we couldn't shake him."

A prisoner? Was he one of the men who had shot at them? "Did you put him where we put Rick before?" She wondered.

He nodded. "I was watching him for a bit but that guy Nate took over."

"But you guys got a whole truck of supplies?" She asked. A truck wasn't enough to last long in a community this size, but it was better than nothing.

The scowl that crossed his face told her that she was wrong. "Lost it in a lake." Was all he said.

Thea let out a shocked sound. "A lake? How—Maybe you should stay away from lakes. That's the second vehicle you've put in one in the past month."

"You were driving the first one." He objected.

She chuckled. "Okay, that's true. I have some good news that might cheer you up a tiny bit, though." She was eager to tell him about Cat. He'd listened to her moan about her sister for a month, he would probably be glad to be done with hearing it.

"A few hours after you left, Cat woke up," She told him. "She's gonna be fine."

He was quiet for a moment before nodding slowly. She could swear she saw the corner of his mouth twitch into a small, half smile. "That's good."

What Rosita had been saying earlier entered her mind and she cleared her throat. "I wanted to thank you. You were kind of the only person I could really talk to this past month. I'm sure you were tired of hearing me complain about Cat." When he shrugged, she rolled her eyes. "Well, I appreciate it anyways."

He didn't respond and she narrowed her eyes playfully.

"I'm gonna hug you in four seconds, just to warn you." She teased.

"Pfft."

He didn't move, despite the sound and she took it as a sign. Stepping forward quickly, because if she didn't move quickly she would lose her gumption, she wrapped her arms tight around his neck, hugging him close. They hadn't hugged since the night they'd returned to Alexandria and she'd been crying about Cat. She wasn't even sure how comfortable he was with the physical contact, but she wanted to show her gratitude somehow other than just saying thank you.

It took a minute, but his arms finally wrapped around her waist. He hugged her back, not as tightly as she was hugging him, but not as loosely and awkwardly as he had when he'd tried comforting her at the clinic.

She felt that maybe he had needed a squeeze after the rough day he'd had.

Her eyes were closed and for a moment all she wanted to stay there, stretched onto her toes and breathing in the strange mixture of leather, gasoline, and grease that came off him, but all good things must come to an end.

As she opened her eyes she stiffened. A figure was creeping across the lawn of the blue house next door.

"Daryl." She whispered, pulling back and turning him towards Rick's house.

The figure wore a long, leather trench coat and a beanie over his significantly long hair. He slipped into the house silently as Daryl and Thea watched.

"Shit."

* * *

 **A/N: In my notes for "The Next World" I wrote "Rick and Daryl go on a run and find Jesus" and I found it funny, so I just wanted to share that with you. I hope you guys enjoyed all the little moments I put in between Thea and Daryl. Also added that scene with Abraham because we're getting closer and closer to his death and I wanted to use him more before that.**

 **Next chapter, Jesus takes the gang to Hilltop!**


	31. Closer

**A/N: *ATTN*: I had a few people PM me asking when Daryl and Thea would get together and complaining that it was taking too long and threatening to quit reading. I just want to say that the reason it's taken this long is because 1) Norman Reedus himself has said that if Daryl were to get into a romantic relationship it would have to be something that developed over time, 2) Thea has been through some shit and for her to just jump into a relationship after it all would be ridiculous; she needs the development too, and 3) I prefer stories with genuine build-up, not relationships that start out of the blue and are nothing but sex, those stories don't intrigue me. So, if you want to stop reading because you think this is taking too long, then be my guest. I will say, hopefully to reassure you all, that I plan on having them together (in however Daryl and Thea can be together) BEFORE they officially meet Negan. We're close! Just hang in there, okay?**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

Thea and Daryl raced back into the house. She skipped several steps at a time as she ran upstairs to alert the others. Abraham was already coming out of his room, having heard the two of them enter the house in such a desperate manner.

"What's going on?" He asked, still half asleep.

Thea beat her fist against Glenn and Maggie's door, waiting until the former answered to speak to them both. "The prisoner that Rick and Daryl brought back…he escaped. We saw him going into Rick's house."

"Shiiit!" Abe growled, returning to his room. He came back with his gun and followed Thea downstairs, Maggie and Glenn behind him.

Daryl led the way to the house next door and they burst into the house, cutting straight for the stairs with their guns ready. What they found was far from what they expected.

The prisoner was sitting on the top step, a calm expression on his face despite the fact that Carl stood behind him with a gun to the back of his head. He held one of the paintings that commonly hung on the wall in his hands as if he had been studying it.

They aimed their weapons at the prisoner as Rick and Michonne came around the corner; Rick was shirtless and struggling to buckle his pants, while Michonne wore simply a tank top and her underwear. It was obvious they had been _together_.

Thea couldn't help but raise her eyebrows in surprise. She couldn't say that she didn't see it coming considering the amount of chemistry the two had, but it was still a shock to see it with her own eyes.

"It's—It's okay." Michonne stammered, holding a hand out for them to lower their guns.

Rick finished his belt and looked down at the man. "You said we should talk. So, let's talk."

* * *

Once Rick and Michonne had fully dressed, they sat around the dining room table with the man, whose name was Jesus, at the head. Daryl paced behind him, gun held loosely in hand as if he were ready for any toe out of line.

"So, how'd you get out?" Rick asked right away.

The corner of Jesus's mouth twitched. "One guard can't cover two exits or third floor windows. Knots untie and locks get picked. Entropy comes from order, right?"

"Right." Daryl grumbled, stopping against the wall and glaring at the long-haired man.

From where she stood behind a seated Maggie, Thea crossed her arms over her chest and tried her best to figure out just what Jesus's motive was. Instead of escaping Alexandria after getting free, he had gone straight to the man in charge? Why?

"I checked out your arsenal. Haven't seen anything like that in a long time." Jesus continued. "You're well-equipped, but your provisions are low. Very low for the amount of people you have. Fifty-four?"

"More than that." Maggie replied in a cool and calculating voice; she too was trying to figure out Jesus.

"Well, I appreciate the cookie. My compliments to the chef."

"Yeah, she ain't here." Daryl grumbled again.

 _Carol._ Thea frowned, wondering where the woman had run off to. She had been preoccupied with her own problems lately, but how had she missed the fact that Carol had disappeared?

Jesus turned to Daryl. "Look, we got off to a bad start. But we're on the same side—the living side. You and Rick had every reason to leave me out there, but you didn't. I'm from a place that's a lot like this one. Part of my job is searching out other settlements to trade with. I took your truck because my community needs things, and both of you looked like trouble. I was wrong. You're good people. And this is a good place. I think our communities may be in a position to help each other."

Thea wondered if he was telling the truth. What if he was with the gunmen who had shot at them on the dry run? The ones who had been after Dwight, Sherry, and Tina? She didn't want to trust him too quickly, she was done having her hopes shattered.

"Do you have food?" Glenn questioned.

Jesus nodded. "We've started to raise livestock. We scavenge, we grow. Everything from tomatoes to sorghum."

Rick seemed to be on the same page as Thea. "Tell us why we should believe you." He demanded.

"I'll show you. If we take a car, I can take you back home in a day and you can all see for yourselves who we are and what we have to offer."

She didn't like it, but if a group would be going to Jesus's community, she would be coming with them. She refused to stay back and let her people walk into a trap alone.

Maggie reached forward. "Wait, you're looking for _more_ settlements. You mean you're already trading with other groups?"

With a smile, Jesus sat back in his chair. "Your world's about to get a whole lot bigger."

* * *

They were going to let Jesus take them back to his home. Unexpectedly, Thea had met no objections when she volunteered to join the group. She had prepared an entire monologue in her head about scoping out their medical supplies and bridging the gap between communities with the offer of her services in exchange for medicine, but she hadn't been forced to use it.

It surprised her.

The group was loading up the RV with anything they might need for the trip. Thea and Daryl stood at the front of the large vehicle, the latter repairing a part of the engine while Thea held the tool-bag in her arms for him to grab from.

As he placed a wrench back in the bag, Denise approached with something in hand.

She offered it to him. "Here. Homemade oak cake. Complex carbohydrates, omega-3s."

Daryl glanced at Thea as if she would have an answer for him and then down at the brown patty in plastic wrap. "Nah, I'm good. We're gonna make a pit stop. I'll pick up something then."

"Like rabies?" Denise was quick to fire back.

Thea bit her lip to stifle her chuckle. Unsuccessfully. She had grown fond of Denise over the past couple months.

The archer was staring at Denise for a long few seconds before he spoke again. "Is this 'cause I tried to get you that stuff?" he asked, referring to the orange soda.

"Yeah. And you remind me of someone I used to know." Denise admitted, her eyes falling to the ground as she was lost in a memory. It didn't seem like a happy one.

She lifted the food again and Daryl snatched it. "Well, hope it tastes better than it looks. 'Cause it looks like shit." He grumbled, shoving it into his pocket.

"Shit's still better than roadkill." Denise said, beginning to back away. She grimaced. "Okay, maybe—just eat it." She stammered before walking away.

Daryl's face scrunched in confusion and he turned and met Thea's eyes questioningly. The doctor chuckled, shrugging a shoulder.

"I think she likes you." She teased him with a smile.

He scoffed and plucked the tool-bag from her arms, turning away.

As he walked towards the door of the RV, she grinned and followed. "It's because you're so likeable!" She continued to tease him. She enjoyed the awkwardness between him and Denise, like they didn't know how to care about people.

"Let's chew up some asphalt!" Abraham shouted from where he stood at the door to the RV.

Thea climbed into the large vehicle and took a seat across from Glenn and Maggie, behind Rick in the driver's seat. And then they were off.

* * *

They had been driving for an hour when Maggie fell asleep, resting against her husband. Abraham was watching them thoughtfully, something Thea had noticed since the trip had started. What he was thinking was hard to tell.

"Hey. Can I ask you a question?" he finally asked.

Glenn nodded. "Sure."

The redheaded man leaned forward, as if it were a secret; Glenn glanced around before doing the same.

"When you were, uh, pouring the Bisquick, were you _trying_ to make pancakes?"

Thea's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she tried to figure out what the large man meant by it.

Glenn blinked, also confused. "Uh…yes?" Something in his face clicked then as he understood what Abraham meant. He glanced at Maggie and Thea understood then as well.

She scoffed, shaking her head. "That's gross." She commented.

"Oh, okay, um…it's something that we talked about, yeah." Glenn responded at the same time.

"Yeah." Abe agreed.

Glenn frowned. "Why?" he wondered.

Abraham shook his head. "No, I just…well, given the precarious state of affairs on any given Sunday, I am damn near floored that you or anyone else would have the cojones to make a call like that."

She understood what he was saying. The way the world was now, Thea wouldn't dream of having a child. Not when they could die any second, at the hands of flesh-eating beasts or evil humans. Then again, life wasn't guaranteed in the old world either; horrible people did horrible things and accidents happened every day. It was a hard decision to make, building a future in a time like this.

"I mean, well…we're trying to build something, me and her. All of us." Glenn explained.

Both men nodded as Thea eyed Maggie, wondering just how far along she was. She couldn't be more than three or four months along, as she wasn't showing any signs of her pregnancy yet.

"For the record," Abe continued. "I see rain coming, I'm wearing galoshes." He nodded. "I double up."

Thea groaned, shaking her head at the round-about, yet blunt way the man talked. He really didn't appear to have a filter.

With a shrug of his mouth, Glenn nodded. He didn't seem to want to continue the line of conversation, and Thea would prefer they stopped talking about impregnating women too.

Thankfully the RV's tires squealed as Rick brought the vehicle to a stop, giving them a reason to end the conversation.

Peeking through the blinds, Daryl squinted. "Yo, Rick. What's going on?"

From the driver's seat, the constable explained. "We got a crash ahead. Looks like it just happened."

Thea stood to peer out the front window of the RV. There was a car turned on its side up ahead, its belly facing them as Rick pulled over. Jesus had stood when she had, and he looked worried.

"It's one of ours." He stated, eyes wide. He moved to stand by the door in order to be first out of the RV as it stopped.

The others followed after him warily and Thea eyed blood that was smeared across the pavement. A walker was trapped beneath the wrecked car and another, this one female, hung from the door on the side in the air; both walkers were snarling and reaching out for the living in desperate hunger.

As Jesus moved to peer into the car, Rick pulled his gun and aimed it at him. "If this is a trick, it won't end well for you." He warned.

Jesus glanced around the wreckage. "My people are in trouble. They don't—we don't have a lot of fighters. I know how it looks, but I'll play it out. Can I borrow a gun?"

His words seemed genuine, but Thea had begun to grow wearier of strangers in the recent months and she wasn't about to put a gun into the hands of a man she knew very little about. She knew the others felt the same.

"No." Daryl told the long-haired man bluntly. He pointed to Rick. "We got tracks right here."

She hadn't realized that he had been looking for a trail to follow while the others worried over the wreckage and potential trap. It shouldn't have been surprising to find that he was still on his game.

They allowed Daryl to lead them in the direction the surviving members of the crash had run and they ended up at what appeared to be a small office building. Rick beat against the glass of a sliding door, gun ready for any walkers that would come running towards the noise.

"They gotta be in there." Jesus commented.

Rick faced them.

"We moving in or what?" Abraham asked, ready for a fight.

Daryl was quick to interject as he moved to stand by Rick. "How do we know this ain't fire crackers in a trash can?"

Thea frowned in confusion, but it didn't seem important to ask for clarification.

"You don't." Jesus replied.

"We'll get your people. You're staying here with one of us." Rick informed him.

Jesus glanced around for help, but merely got a shake of the head from Michonne. "That's the deal." She affirmed.

"Will you stay?" Glenn asked Maggie softly.

"Yeah." She agreed.

Thea didn't like the idea of a pregnant woman guarding a potential threat, at least not alone. "I'll stay, too." She spoke up. She'd stay behind and make sure Maggie stayed safe.

Maggie gave her an appreciative nod. "Y'all go, just be careful."

Rick pulled a pair of cuffs Thea didn't even know he had. "Yeah." He quickly cuffed Jesus's hands behind his back. "We're gonna be careful."

"Just hurry." Jesus urged.

To Maggie, Rick gave one simple instruction. "You hear me whistle, shoot him."

"I will."

As Maggie trained her gun on Jesus and the others went into the office building, Thea's heart thumped uneasily. She didn't like how much she didn't like how Jesus was cuffed and being held at gunpoint. And she didn't like the people she cared about walking into a dark building with only their guns and their wits as protection. There was no telling what was waiting for them in there.

She gripped the handle of her axe tightly, her palms so sweaty she feared she might drop it if she ended up needing to use it. Maggie's arms didn't shake at all as she continued to aim her weapon at Jesus. Thea's eyes wandered around them in case someone was lurking around the corner to jump out at them. She hated waiting.

"This isn't a trap, I promise." Jesus said softly to her, as he seemed to sense how uncomfortable she was.

She stared at him for a long moment trying to decide how honest he was being. Even though he seemed to mean it, she didn't want to believe him. "We'll see." She replied firmly, trying to ignore the way her heart thudded in her ears.

It was only ten minutes later that the group returned, Jesus's people in tow. One of them was bleeding from a deep gash in his thigh, Abraham and Glenn supporting him.

"Thank god." Jesus muttered when he saw the group.

Thea quickly passed her ax to Maggie and rushed to the man Abe and Glenn held, pulling apart the rip in his shorts to look at the gash. "Let's get him in the RV." She said urgently, grabbing his injured leg and lifting it to try and keep the blood from flowing downwards and out of the wound.

They got him and the others into the RV and Rick started driving towards Jesus's community once again. Thea was kneeling on the floor in front of the injured man, who Jesus had called Freddie. She had ripped open the hole in his shorts a bit further to get better access to the gash, and after holding pressure on it to slow the bleeding, she began to stitch it up using the supplies she had brought from the clinic.

When she finished, as she pressed a bandage onto the freshly closed wound, the man sighed heavily. She couldn't tell if it was from relief or something else.

"You okay, Freddie?" Jesus asked his friend.

The man paused before answering. "For a second back there, just when I thought he was gonna…I saw my wife. She died before all this." His voice broke as he spoke of her. "Just when I thought it was over, there she was," he laughed. "Clear as day."

Thea wondered who she would see on the brink of death. Would she see her parents? Would she see her sister? Her nephew? She found herself hoping that when the time came, it came quickly. She didn't want to get the chance to have her life flashing before her eyes.

A splat noise came from beneath the RV and the vehicle lurched to a stop suddenly. They could hear the tires spinning but not gaining any traction as Rick pressed his foot on the gas.

"Damn it." The sheriff muttered, revving the motor. "A storm must have passed through. We're stuck."

Jesus stood to peer out the front window. "No worries, we're here." He announced.

Thea was one of the last to get off the RV, whether it was out of trepidation or something else wasn't clear, but she found herself wanting to stay seated. Finally, when she stepped out she was amazed by what she saw.

"That's us. That's the Hilltop."

The Hilltop was surrounded by an incredibly tall wall made out of the trunks of trees. It was impressive that they had managed to build such a thing and Thea wondered just how long they had been here. How long had it taken to build up the walls? To cut down all the trees needed for it?

Jesus began to lead them up the path that led directly to the front gates of Hilltop. There were two men on guard above the gates, spears in hand.

"Stop right there!" one of them shouted down.

Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and Abraham all aimed their guns at the guards and Jesus spun around to face them, hands up.

"Woah!" he exclaimed, trying to stop them from firing.

"You gonna make us?" Daryl asked the guard who had yelled at them.

Instead of answering, the man addressed his returning ally. "Jesus, what the hell is this?" He demanded to know.

"Open the gates, Cal." Jesus replied. "Freddie's hurt." He faced Rick. "Look, sorry about these guys. They get antsy standing up there all day doing nothing."

Cal shook his head. "They give up their weapons. Then we'll open the gates."

"Why don't you come down here and get 'em?" Daryl challenged with a growl.

Thea couldn't help but roll her eyes. This was going nowhere.

Harlan, a man who was the doctor for the Hilltop community, stepped forward from behind Thea and addressed the guards. "Gentlemen, look, we vouch for these people, all right? They saved us out there."

"Lower the spears." Jesus instructed.

When no one moved, Rick faced Jesus. "Look, I'm not taking any chances. Tell your guy Gregory to come out here."

Gregory was the man Jesus had named as the leader of Hilltop, but that was all they had heard about him.

"No," Jesus disagreed. "Don't you see what just happened? I'm letting you keep your guns."

Thea scoffed. " _Letting_ us?"

Jesus ignored her. "Look, we ran out of ammo months ago. I like you people. I trust you. Trust us."

Trust was a lot to ask of someone nowadays, but Rick seemed to buy into Jesus for the time being. He raised his arm above his head and motioned for the group to follow him.

Jesus faced the gates once more. "Open the gates, Cal."

There was a moment's pause before the gates squeaked open, revealing the community to the newcomers. There were small trailers in rows on each side of the main path, along with a few huts made of the same trunks the wall was made from. What stuck out instantly, however, was a large and historic looking house. It was a three-story mansion with a tower on top and it was impressive.

People were milling about, there was a man walking a cow and a woman feeding some chickens. A woman was hanging clothes on a line to dry.

"Hey, thanks again." Harlan was saying to Maggie and Glenn. "Come see me whenever. I'm just over here in the medical trailer, okay?" He and another man walked in the direction of the medical trailer, supporting Freddie between them.

"There was a materials yard for a power company nearby. That's how we put up the walls." Jesus began to explain. "A lot of people came from a FEMA camp. Trailers came with them."

"How did people find out about this place?" Michonne wondered.

Jesus turned and pointed with both hands at the mansion. "That's called Barrington House. The family that owned it gave it to the state in the 30s. The state turned it into a living history museum. Every elementary school for 50 miles used to come here for field trips. The place was running a long time before the modern world built up around it. I think people came here because they figured it'd keep running after the modern world broke down."

He pointed to the third story windows. "Those windows up there let us see for miles in every direction. It's perfect for security. Come on. I'll show you inside."

She felt completely out of place when they entered the house. It was beautiful and clean with tall ceilings and paintings that must have been hundreds of years old. The floors were wood with expensive looking rugs that led to a beautiful, curved staircase. Covered in dirt from the day, Thea felt like she should turn around and go back outside with the livestock.

"Good gracious, Ignatius." Abraham murmured, seeming to feel the same as her.

Jesus smiled knowingly. "Most of the rooms have been converted to living spaces. Even the ones that weren't bedrooms."

"People live here and the trailers?" Rick asked.

"We plan to build. There's babies being born."

A set of wooden double doors to the left side of the room opened suddenly to reveal a large office. A man dressed in slacks and a suit jacket over a button-down shirt stepped out and observed them. His hair and beard were both dark gray.

"Jesus. You're back." He eyed the others. "With guests."

Jesus glanced at them. "Everyone, this is Gregory. He keeps the trains running on time around here."

Gregory extended his arms with a cocky smile on his face. "I'm the boss."

Thea immediately didn't like him. _Something_ was off about him.

Rick nodded. "Well, I'm Rick. We have a community—."

Gregory interrupted him, motioning towards the stairs. "Why don't y'all go get cleaned up, hmm?" He said, giving a pointed look to Daryl that had Thea glaring at him.

"We're fine." Rick declined the offer.

The man didn't care. "Jesus will show you where you can get washed up. Then come back down here when you're ready." He walked forward until he was standing inches away from Rick, invading his personal space. "It's hard to keep this place clean."

Rick clearly was not happy with Gregory, but he nodded his head. "Yeah, sure."

Thea noticed Jesus roll his eyes. "Follow me." He sighed before leading them up the stairs.

* * *

Rick decided that Maggie should be the one to wash up first and go speak with Gregory and nobody protested.

Most of them washed up before Thea did and as she finished, redressing in her dirty clothes, she began to move down the stairs from the third floor to the second. She stopped on the stairs when she heard Abraham's voice, wondering if she was interrupting a private conversation.

"How long do you think Rick and Michonne been ugging bumplies?" he was crudely asking someone.

There was a scoff before the reply. "I don't know." It was Daryl.

Abe's boots crossed the floor. "You ever think about it? Settling down?"

Daryl was silent and she wondered if he was going to answer. "You think shit's settled?" he finally retorted before she could hear his own boots leaving the room.

Thea found herself on both sides of the question. On one hand, she wished she could settle down and forget the troubles of this world. On the other, she knew that nothing would ever settle down enough for that.

* * *

Later, after Maggie had talked to Gregory, there were sitting around the front parlor. Gregory hadn't agreed to anything Maggie had suggested and Rick wasn't happy. He sat on the arm of a chair while Daryl paced behind him.

"We want to generate trade. Gregory does. But ammo isn't something we urgently need." Jesus was explaining.

Rick frowned. "Well, how's that?"

"The walls hold. We just brought in more medicine. Gregory wants the best deal possible."

"Yeah, well we want things, too." Daryl scoffed.

Rick nodded. "We need food. We came all this way, we're gonna get it."

Thea stiffened at the hostility in his voice. It sounded like he was making a threat.

"I will talk to him and we will work this out." Jesus continued. "Circumstances change. We're doing well now, and you will next. I will make him understand that. Can you give me a few days?"

Michonne answered for them. "We can."

Rick looked at the woman with a raised eyebrow as if to ask how she could think that, but ultimately, he sighed and turned back to Jesus. "Yeah."

Jesus released a soft, relieved laugh, happy to have found something to agree on.

The moment was short-lived, however, as a loud commotion came from outside. The door opened and a man they didn't know came rushing inside as Gregory came out of his office.

"What's wrong?" Gregory asked.

"They're back!" The man exclaimed.

Gregory and Jesus shared a nod and walked out of the house, the group on their heels. Two men and one woman were coming up the path from the gate, headed straight for the house.

"Nathan, what happened to everybody else? Where's Tim and Marsha?" Gregory asked.

"They're dead." Nathan was quick to respond.

Gregory's next word had Thea's heart skipping a beat. "Negan?"

Thea glanced at Daryl and they locked eyes for a second.

"Yeah." Nathan was agreeing when she turned her attention back to the conversation.

Gregory balked. "We had a deal."

The other man from the returning group spoke up. "He said it wasn't enough. Was the drop light?"

"No." Gregory was quick to reply.

"They still have Craig." The woman this time.

Nathan stepped up close to Gregory. "They said they'd keep him alive, return him to us, if I deliver a message to you."

Something wasn't right.

"So, tell me." Gregory urged.

Nathan placed a hand on his leader's shoulder. "I'm sorry." He whispered before thrusting a knife into the man's gut with a sickening squelch.

Rick and Michonne pulled Nathan away as Glenn and Maggie supported Gregory, helping him to the ground. Thea didn't like the man much, but she wasn't going to let him die. She raced forward and kneeled beside him, her hands immediately going to apply pressure to his wound.

"Get off of me! I had to!" Nathan was shouting. He shoved Michonne away and he and Rick engaged in a fist fight.

Rick took him down to the ground and punched him three times before the second man pulled him off. Abe came rushing forward and pulled the second man off as Rick scrambled back to fight with Nathan once more.

Abraham was struggling with the second man, who was straddling and choking him. Daryl came over and in one swift movement broke his arm to stop him from strangling Abe to death.

Nathan flipped Rick over and held him down by the neck and Glenn raced to his aid, reaching for the gun in his holster.

"Hey!" He exclaimed in warning.

Nathan pulled a knife and held it to Rick's throat. "Stay back! Anybody who tries to stop me is killing my brother!"

"Drop it!" Michonne threatened.

Without warning, Rick thrust his own knife into Nathan's neck. Blood gushed from the wound and onto Rick's chest, neck, and lower face. The sheriff shoved the lifeless body off him and stood, glancing around at the Hilltop members who were staring in shock.

With the way the blood coated his mouth, Thea was reminded of the time Rick had bit into Joe's neck that night on the road.

"What?" Rick asked bluntly.

"Nathan! You killed him!" The man who's arm Daryl had broken exclaimed.

Rick looked at him in disbelief. "He tried to kill Gregory, then me."

The woman who'd returned with them came rushing forward and punched Rick hard in the jaw, moving to kick him as he fell to the ground from the blow. Michonne grabbed her by the throat and threw her to the dirt.

"Don't." She growled, protecting the sheriff.

Cal was there with his spear suddenly. "Drop it now!"

With his gun pointed at Cal, Rick shook his head. "I don't think I will."

This was all going to shit. There was no way there were going to be able to make a deal with Hilltop now. Thea pressed her hands down on Gregory's abdomen and sighed in frustration. This trip had been a total failure.

Jesus had placed himself in between Cal and Rick, arms spread out. "Everyone, this is over! It's over. Ethan was our friend, but let's not pretend he was anything more than a coward who attacked us. He did this. And these people stopped him.

Thea frowned. His name hadn't been _Nathan_ , it was _Ethan_. Did Gregory not know the name of his own people, or did he just not care?

The woman was crying over Ethan's body.

"What can I do?" Rick asked Jesus.

Jesus sighed. "Put the gun away. You've done enough."

Surprisingly, Rick did as he was told.

"You need to know that things aren't as simple as they might seem. Just give me some time." Jesus said.

Before Thea had much time to wonder about what he meant, Harlan joined her on the ground with Gregory. "Let's get him inside." He urged her.

"Glenn." She called out, waving him back over.

Together, the three of them managed to lift Gregory and carry him into the house. They placed him in his room on the second floor and Glenn left the two doctors to work.

Thea was struck with how similar Gregory's wound was to Cat's. She hadn't gotten the opportunity to work on her sister, and yet here she was at the right time to save a man she didn't like one bit. She didn't voice her opinion to Harlan, didn't want to put that negative energy out as they worked to repair the damage caused by the knife.

Harlan, or Dr. Carson, was an obstetrician before the end of the world and although he had picked up a few things since the turn, he was not as equipped for a wound like this as Thea was. He vocalized as much as they were finishing up.

"It's a good thing you were here. I know a little, but not that much. I don't know if I could have saved him on my own."

As she finished the last stitch, she offered him a reassuring smile. "You could have."

The bedroom door opened and Jesus entered. "How is he?"

Harlan was already cleaning up the supplies they'd used. "He'll live. Thanks to Thea."

She shook her head. She didn't want that kind of responsibility over a man like Gregory. "Thanks to both of us."

Once she was able to leave the room, she went to a bathroom down the hall and washed her hands. They were stained pink, but she managed to clean them as much as she could. Her shirt was spotted with crimson, though, and she would have to throw it out when they returned home.

"You okay?" Jesus asked as she stepped out of the bathroom. He was waiting against the wall similar to the way Daryl had at the clinic.

She shrugged. "Of course." She lied. In reality, her mind was reeling. Ethan had said Negan wanted Gregory dead. Who the hell was Negan and why was he popping up around every corner? And why did the name still seem so familiar to her?

The long-haired man didn't seem to believe her. He could see she was shaken up about something, but didn't ask what. Maybe he thought she would tell him in her own time.

"The others are waiting in Gregory's office." He said finally, offering her a small smile, which she returned.

It wasn't that she hadn't liked Jesus before, but rather she had been wary of him. Now? Now he was showing her a kinder side that had her beginning to picture a friendship between the two of them. Something was telling her he was to be trusted, she just didn't know what it was.

She followed him downstairs to Gregory's office. Her group was waiting inside and they turned to eye her as she entered the room ahead of Jesus.

"Thea and Dr. Carson were able to patch Gregory up. He's in pain, but he'll live." Jesus spoke for her.

Thea felt exhausted and she moved to stand against the bookshelf in the corner of the room, next to where Daryl stood against a window.

"So, what now?" Rick asked.

Jesus shook his head. "Things like that don't usually happen here, but, uh, it's settled."

"We heard the name Negan. A while back, Daryl, Abraham, and Thea had a run-in with his men. Who is he?" Rick was in full sheriff mode now, eager for answers.

Thea wanted those answers, too. She needed to figure out who exactly Negan was.

Jesus hesitantly explained. "Negan's the head of a group of people he calls the Saviors. As soon as the walls were built, the Saviors showed up. They met with Gregory on behalf of their boss. They made a lot of demands, even more threats. And he killed on of us—Rory. He was 16-years-old. They beat him to death right in front of us. Said we needed to understand, right off the bat. Gregory's not exactly good at confrontation. He's not the leader I would have chosen, but he helped make this place what it is, and the people like him."

"He made the deal." Maggie guessed.

Jesus nodded. "Half of everything. Our supplies, our crops, our livestock, it goes to the Saviors."

"And what do you get in return?" Rick wondered.

"They don't attack this place. They don't kill us."

It wasn't a trade, it was like paying rent on their own lives.

"Why not just kill them?" Daryl asked.

Jesus sighed. "Most of the people here don't even know how to fight, even if we had the ammo."

 _That's where Alexandria came in._ Jesus didn't say it, but Thea could tell that was where this was going. He had mentioned how impressed he was with their armory before, next he'd be asking them for help.

"Well, how many people does Negan have?" Rick asked.

"We don't know. We've seen groups as big as 20."

Daryl didn't seem to believe it. "Now, hold up. So, they show up, they kill a kid, and you give them half of everything? These dicks just got a good story. The bogeyman, he ain't shit."

"Well, how do you know?" Jesus countered.

From where he was seated in the window sill, Abraham spoke up. "About a month ago, we took his guys out PDQ. Left them in pieces and puddles."

"You know, we'll do it. If we go get your man back, kill Negan, take out his boys, will you hook us up? We want food, medicine, and one of them cows." Daryl came up with a plan.

Jesus looked to Rick for confirmation.

"Confrontation's never been something we've had trouble with." Rick boasted.

Jesus was quiet for a moment as he thought it through. "I'll take it to Gregory." He said softly before leaving the office.

Thea didn't want them getting into something like this. Why should they go and put themselves in harm's way against someone like Negan just to help out Jesus and his people? Was it selfish of her to want to keep Alexandria off Negan's radar? And who was to say that they would be able to kill him? What if they failed? What would happen to them then?

She could sense that something horrible was on the horizon.

* * *

When Gregory had woken up and spoken with Jesus, he requested to speak with Maggie again. The farmer's daughter was in his room for nearly an hour before she and Jesus returned successful.

She had managed to negotiate for half of everything Hilltop had now, on the condition that they would take out Negan and his men and return Craig to Hilltop.

As they loaded up the RV with half of the Hilltop's supplies, Maggie and Glenn had gone to the medical trailer to see Harlan about the baby. It was an exciting moment for the couple, and Thea was happy for them, but she didn't want her excitement to smother her fear. She was afraid of the outcome of this agreement. She knew this wasn't going to work out well for either side.

But as they finished loading up, and Jesus and Ethan's friend joined them on the road, she didn't voice her opinion. She kept it to herself.

Glenn and Maggie were sitting close together with a picture between them and Thea could guess what it was. Glenn smiled proudly and offered the picture to Michonne, who sat beside him.

The woman smiled and passed it across the aisle to Daryl. The archer studied it for a moment, chewing on his bottom lip as Thea looked at it over his shoulder. After a moment, Daryl handed it over to Abraham, the redhead took it and stared.

Knowing he had children of his own, Thea wondered if he was remembering a moment when he had look upon his own child's sonogram. If he was missing them in this moment more than he may miss them daily.

As he smiled at Glenn over the edge of the sonogram, however, she knew he was. It was a sad smile.

Thea was happy for Glenn and Maggie, but she couldn't help but feel sad, too.

She didn't know how this would end. Feared—no, _knew_ —it would end badly.

* * *

 **A/N: So, this chapter was a bit of a filler. Just wanted to introduce the Hilltop to everyone. Next chapter, shit really hits the fan! Get your galoshes!**


	32. Arsonist's Lullaby

**A/N: Once again, I've updated late and I'm sorry. My sister's wedding is October 7th, and as we get closer, I just get busier. So, here's a new chapter! Hopefully you guys won't hate me too much with the way this one ends!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

The ride back in the RV was long and quiet. It had been a rough day for them all, with traveling to the Hilltop and having to break up a fight that ended with blood spilled. Add in the stress of negotiations and it was understandable that no one was feeling up to the task of making small talk. Thea found herself drawing her knees up to her chest, folding her arms over her knees and resting her forehead on her forearms. She closed her eyes, somewhat hoping to doze off just a little and catch up on the sleep she'd been missing the past few nights.

The hum of the RV seemed to lull her into a light sleep, one where her body was at rest but her mind was still aware of her surroundings. She could still feel how the RV lightly rocked and the way her arm brushed against Daryl's since they were sitting so close together, squished on the small bench seat between the archer and Abraham.

She was feeling conflicted about how things had ended with the Hilltop. On one hand, she was glad they had managed to come to an agreement that would supply them with food for Alexandria. However, the means by which they would earn the food they had taken weren't exactly ideal. They had promised to ' _take care'_ of the problem that was Negan and the Saviors. How would they do that? Rick had already decided they would need to kill them all. She wasn't sure how she felt about the idea of assassinating an entire group of people, evil as they may be.

Then again, Rick had left the man who'd taken the prison from them alive and he'd been able to take their home from them with an army of followers. If they left the Saviors alive, would they eventually come to take Alexandria from them?

Could she kill someone in cold blood in order to save Cat and Hank from the world outside of their community's walls?

* * *

The RV's horn blared in two short bursts and startled her awake. She jumped in her seat, lifting her head from her arms to look around. She could see the gates to Alexandria through the windshield as they slowly opened, whoever was on guard duty having been alerted by Rick's signal.

Beside her, she heard a quiet chuckle and she turned to narrow her eyes at Daryl taking amusement from her being startled.

She didn't miss the way Jesus was watching the two of them from the back of the RV. What was the long-haired man thinking and why was he studying the two of them instead of the entire group?

Rick pulled the RV into Alexandria and parked it near the clinic, cutting the engine. From the window, Thea could see that Sasha and Aaron stood at the small window waiting to speak with Rick.

The sheriff slid open the window. "Get Olivia. She should inventory what we have. We'll meet her at the pantry."

Michonne stood and exited the RV and Thea stood slowly, stretching her stiff legs as the joints in her knees popped.

"Gettin' old." Daryl teased gruffly from his seat.

Thea scoffed and turned to him, rolling her eyes. "You're one to talk."

"You have food?" Sasha's voice asked through the window.

Michonne was outside on the grass with her now. "Yeah. Enough for another month." She replied.

Thea grabbed the box of medical supplies from the small table and carried it down the stairs of the RV, her feet hitting the pavement heavily.

"I need everybody in the church in an hour." Rick informed them.

"What is it?" Sasha wondered.

Thea heard the engine restart as he replied. "We'll talk about it."

She walked around the front end of the RV towards the clinic, spotting that Rosita and Carol had joined the small group talking to Rick.

"Rick, what's going on?" Carol asked. She was holding a bag on one arm, a Tupperware container with what looked like a pink cookie in her hand.

Rick, vague as always, sighed. "We're gonna have to fight." It was all he said before he shifted the RV into gear and drove off towards the pantry.

Thea watched the large vehicle move down the street for a moment before turning and continuing towards the clinic, heaving her tired legs up the steps of the porch and offering a tired smile to Denise as she pulled open the door for her.

"Welcome back." The woman said with a smile, stepping aside so Thea could enter the clinic with the supplies.

Thea had grown to like Denise. She was kind and smart, definitely a quick learner; she had taken to being the town's other doctor like a fish to water. On top of all that, once she was comfortable with people she revealed a no-nonsense side of herself. She was a lot tougher than most thought she was.

"Thanks," She sighed, setting the box down on the counter. "We got some supplies, but not much. We'll have to make another run soon if we want to keep the place stocked."

Denise reached into the box and pulled out a package of gauze. "Your trip was _that_ good, huh?"

She couldn't hold back her sigh of frustration as she leaned against the counter and crossed her arms. "If by good, you mean we found another enemy to fight, then it went great."

The blonde woman shook her head. "Wha-What do you mean?"

Thea didn't want to give away the big surprise. Rick wanted to call a meeting and tell everyone there. She didn't want to be the bearer of bad news, didn't want that kind of weight on her shoulders.

"You'll find out in an hour. Rick is holding a town hall meeting in the church. He'll explain everything."

* * *

An hour later, Thea found herself sitting beside Daryl in one of the pews of the church listening to the spiel Rick had managed to cook up to convince the Alexandrians that going to kill the Saviors was necessary to their survival and not straight up murder.

"And we can work with the Hilltop. Maggie hammered out a deal. We're getting food—eggs, butter, fresh vegetables." Rick was explaining. "But they're not just giving it away. These Saviors, they almost killed Sasha, Thea, Daryl, and Abraham on the road. Now, sooner or later, they would've found us, just like those Wolves did, just like Jesus did."

Thea knew he had a point, but she was still struggling with the concept of this mission. Struggling with the morality of it.

"They woulda killed someone or some of us. And then they would try to own us. And we would try to stop them. But by then, in that kind of fight, low on food, we could lose. This is the only way to be sure, as sure as we can get, that we win. And we have to win. We do this for the Hilltop, it's how we keep this place. It's how we feed this place. This needs to be a group decision. If anybody objects, here's your chance to say your piece."

The church was silent. Thea wanted to stand and shout ' _ME! I object! Don't do it!'_ , but she couldn't find the strength to move. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she knew if she remained seated then she was all but letting this assassination go through. And yet, she sat still, chest heaving slightly with anticipation that someone else would stand and speak out. Someone _had_ to speak out. She couldn't be the only one on the fence about this, right?

From the back of the room, a pew creaked. Thea's heart jumped in relief as she turned to see Morgan rising to his feet.

"You're sure we can do it? We can beat them?" he asked.

"What this group has done, what we've learned, what we've become, all of us—yes, I'm sure." Rick replied.

Morgan nodded. "Then all we have to do is just tell 'em that."

 _Tell them_. Like threatening them would ever be enough. If these people could control Hilltop so effortlessly, have the entire community in fear of them, then a little threat wouldn't go in Alexandria's favor.

"Well, they don't compromise." Rick argued.

Morgan still protested. "This isn't about compromise. It's a choice you give them. It's a way out, for them and for us."

"We try and talk to the Saviors, we give up our advantage, our safety."

It made sense, the Saviors didn't know about them yet, not technically. But wouldn't going in to kill them all put them on their radar if something were to go awry? If they didn't manage to kill them all? To kill Negan?

"No," Rick was saying. "We have to come for them before they come for us. We can't leave them alive."

"Where there's life, there's possibility." Morgan tried to reason.

Thea could see that Rick was growing annoyed with Morgan's protests.

"Of them hitting us." He sniped.

Yes, leaving the Saviors alive did mean that they could possibly come for Alexandria in the future. But that was a _possibility_. They didn't know anything about the community yet, so why do this on the hunch that something _may_ happen in the future?

"We're not trapped in this. None of you are trapped in this." Morgan said to the group, eyeing them as if he were hoping someone else would stand with him.

"Morgan…they always come back." Rick contended softly.

He was right. The Governor had come back and taken the prison from them. Gareth and the Terminites had fled Terminus only to come after them. Thea had a sudden image of Bob with one leg missing as the Terminites ate the cooked limb. She could practically feel the way the rope had burned against her wrists and ankles every time she tried to struggle free. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes and she sunk her teeth into her bottom lip to try and ground herself as her heart stuttered and pounded. Her fingers circled her wrist, rubbing it as if she still carried the rope burns to this day.

"Come back when they're dead, too." Morgan spoke just as softly.

"Yeah, we'll stop them. We have before." Rick countered.

"I'm not talking about the walkers." Morgan explained.

Thea bowed her head. Morgan was right, too. The people she'd killed, both before meeting the group and after, still haunted her. She couldn't forget their faces. How would it feel after they killed the Saviors? Would they be relieved to be rid of a potential problem or haunted by their deeds?

When she lifted her head, she found Daryl eyeing her. Was he wondering what she thought about all of this? And what did _he_ think? As they locked eyes, she knew she would have to speak with him about it in private later. She trusted his judgement.

Rick addressed the others in the room, pulling Thea's eyes away from Daryl's. "Morgan wants to talk to them first. I think that would be a mistake, but it's not up to me. I'll talk to the people still at home. I'll discuss it with the people on guard now, too, but who else wants to approach the Saviors, talk to them first?"

Thea would rather not interact with them at all, but she didn't think suggesting that would go over very well.

On the other side of the aisle, Aaron stood from his seat. "What happened here, we won't let that happen again." He said firmly. His eyes traveled over the group until they landed on Morgan. "I won't." With a nod at Rick, he sat back down and left it at that.

The church fell silent again and the tension in the air was almost palpable. Thea's eyes found Rick again to see what he would say next, and she found herself incredibly surprised.

"It looks like it's settled. We know exactly what this is. We don't shy from it, _we live_. We kill them all. We don't all have to kill. But, if people are gonna stay here…" he began walking down the aisle towards the doors. "…they do have to accept it."

As he left the church, Thea's brows furrowed in confusion. Hadn't he just said he'd talk to the people unable to make it to the meeting and see how they felt about it? And now he had just decided that they were doing this? Despite Morgan's protests? Despite the frightened silence of the rest of them? It reminded her of when they had been on the road, how Rick had taken up the role of dictator and kept them all in line. Now that Deanna was gone, he could be trying to make a comeback, but under the pretense of democracy.

Or maybe she was just overreacting.

* * *

She didn't get the chance to speak with Daryl before they had the meeting to plan the mission to take out the Saviors. She would just have to speak with him afterwards.

Andy, the other Hilltop member who had come back to Alexandria with Jesus, was drawing a map of the facility the Saviors were at on a piece of white paper.

"Rectangular building, big satellites on it." He was saying as he drew.

Rick had both hands on the table, watching closely. "Any windows?"

"I don't remember any." Andy shook his head. "I think they made it so there's only one way in."

"Guards outside?"

"Yeah, two of them at least."

Michonne spoke up from beside Rick. "And you don't know how many people they have?"

Andy shook his head. "No." He paused in his drawing and thought for a moment. "I mean, no. I saw a place where they stored food. It wasn't that big, so…"

"You've been inside?" Rick deduced.

"Yeah. They had us load in supplies one time."

Glenn slapped a fresh piece of paper on top of Andy's drawing. "Hmm. What do you remember?"

Andy began to draw the inside layout of the building, mapping out hallways and pointing out what rooms were what.

"And you didn't see any other rooms?" Maggie wondered.

"No, it's a big place. This is the hallway I saw." There's a room drawn on the paper labeled 'pantry' with a hallway leading away from it. "There is more."

"And every time, they had you bring things into here?" Michonne questioned, pointing to the pantry.

Andy sighed heavily as he tried to think. "Jesus. We brought a couple spears for them. Two of the Saviors took them down this hallway." He drew a hallway veering off from the one he'd drawn earlier. "Now, they must have done something with them because they didn't come back with them."

"Maybe a weapons locker, an armory." Jesus suggested from where he stood behind them, arms crossed over his chest as he studied the drawing with a furrowed brow.

"Okay." Andy agreed, writing 'armory' on the paper at the end of the hallway he'd just drawn.

Glenn pointed to it. "We get in there, secure the armory. That's how we end it." He said, earning a nod from Rick.

"That's how Carol ended it here." Maggie added, referring to the attack on Alexandria.

Andy shook his head. "But we don't know if they have an armory or where it even is." He protested.

Beside Thea, Daryl spoke up for the first time since they had started this little meeting. "Well, we've got a lot of good guesses. We've done more with less."

Rick nodded again. "We go in at night while they're sleeping."

Andy had more to say. "The guards won't be sleeping." He shuffled the papers in order to bring the first one back to the top of the stack. "Like I said, I think there's only one way in and there's no way to bust through that door without waking the rest of them."

"We won't need to." Rick declared. "They're going to open it for us, let us walk right in. they want Gregory's head, right? We're gonna give it to them."

* * *

This time, it was Daryl who found _her_ on the porch that night.

Thea was standing facing the railing, arms wrapped around herself and eyes turned up towards the sky, as she found herself lost in her thoughts. She was incredibly conflicted about what this run tomorrow would entail. They were going to find a walker that looked similar to Gregory and take its head to the Saviors, that was the key to getting into the facility. Once they were inside, they'd take out the Saviors as they slept, one-by-one.

Thea had been raised Catholic, but once she'd reached her teen years her parents had given her the opportunity to explore her religion and spirituality in the way she wished. She'd stopped going to church, stopped living her life the way her parents had told her the big man in the sky wanted her to, but that didn't mean she stopped believing that there was _something_ up there.

When the world had ended, she had been angry with whatever higher power there was. She couldn't understand why whoever was in control would put the world through such a thing, if there even was someone in control to do it.

Now, she was wondering if that higher being was judging them for what they were about to do. Or if he or she even cared what they did to survive. It was all too much for her to try to think about right now and she sighed heavily, sending a glare towards the sky before turning her gaze to the empty street.

The door to the house opened slowly and she peered over her shoulder at Daryl as he joined her on the porch. He held a lone cigarette between his middle and forefinger, which he brought to his lips to light. Taking a drag off it, he offered it to her.

She offered a small smile in return, accepting it and taking a drag off it as well.

"Thinkin' 'bout the run?" He asked as she passed it back.

Thea exhaled a puff of smoke and nodded slowly. She faced him, resting her hip against the porch railing and eyeing him. "What do you think about all this? About what Rick wants us to do?"

He was quiet, like he always was. She had come to discover over the long while she'd known him that he was a deep thinker and often when he was silent it was because he had a lot on his mind. She had grown more patient in waiting for a reply once she had gained that knowledge.

The cigarette glowed as he took another pull off it before passing it back and exhaling slowly. "Gotta do what we gotta do." He said simply.

Thea took the cig but didn't bring it to her lips yet. "So, you're okay with sneaking in and killing people in their sleep?"

He shrugged one shoulder and didn't respond.

Her throat burned as she took her turn with the little white stick. It was nearly finished and she gave the rest of it to Daryl. "Don't just shrug," She told him. "Don't do that. I know you have more to say, so say it."

Daryl threw the finished cigarette into the street and moved to rest against one of the wooden posts of the railing, arms crossing over his chest. "The Saviors came after us three times. Shot at us, got us stranded in the woods. Then they tried to take the truck. We ended up driving into a lake to out run them the third time." He reminded her.

She nodded and leaned against the railing beside him. She still faced him and there was very little space between them as she replied quietly. "I know that. But it's different going in like this."

"You don't think they'd do the same?"

Thea shook her head. She didn't think they would, not after what Jesus had told them about how they'd taken the Hilltop. "No, I don't. They went into Hilltop in the middle of the day, they _wanted_ to be seen. Heard. This Negan guy probably gets off on the power trip he gets from scaring entire communities into submission." She shrugged. "Coming in and slaughtering us in our beds doesn't exactly seem like his style."

He was listening to her, chewing on his bottom lip in thought. It wasn't hard to have a calm, rational conversation with him; something she would have found surprising when she first met him.

"Alright. Say we don't do this and he mows down the front gates, kills someone to make a point. Then he gets half our shit and we're living like we did on the road. You want the people here, the people who have no experience out there, to have to deal with that? To suffer like that?"

She thought of her sister and her nephew first. She didn't want them to have to deal with the things that people outside the walls would do to survive. Cat had already suffered the brunt of one group of maniacs and barely lived to tell the tale; if that happened again, Thea wasn't sure she could make it out.

"No," she sighed. "I don't want any of them going through that. But, I can't shake this feeling like this is only going to _start_ something bigger. What if we go and not all of them are there? What if they come after us because of this?"

He thought it over, the wheels turning in his head almost visibly. "But what if we get them all?"

Yes, they could potentially wipe them all out and be done with it. That was a real possibility. Another _real_ possibility was that this satellite station Andy said they were staying at could only be housing _part_ of the group. There could be others. And there was no guarantee that this mission would work, either.

"What if we go in and we lose? What happens to Alexandria then?" she whispered fearfully, eyes wide and searching his for answers.

Almost like he could sense what she was feeling, Daryl shifted closer. She wasn't sure if it was a conscious movement or not, but he did.

"What if we don't lose?"

Thea let out a harsh, quiet laugh. "We're working with _a lot_ of 'what ifs' here, Daryl. Are you sure you want to gamble with your life like that?"

As usual when faced with the subject of his possible death, he shrugged it off. "Better me than the people here. Than you, or Cat, or Hank. There are more important people to worry about."

She wasn't sure if he had brought Cat and Hank into it because he genuinely worried for their safety, or if he was just trying to drive his point home. She couldn't think about that, however, because she found herself so incredibly frustrated by his lack of care for his own well-being. Why did he think that if he died it wouldn't matter? Why did he _always_ say that his death would be better than anyone else's.

Her heart thumped hard in her chest as she furrowed her brows at him. Her throat was tight, voice thick when she finally responded. "Wh-Why do you always say that?" she stammered. "Why do you act like your life means so little compared to other people?"

He shook his head as if the answer was obvious, and it only upset her more.

" _I_ care about you, Daryl. _I_ care if you die…" she trailed off, staring up at him with wide eyes. "You dying is one of the worst things that could happen."

He didn't respond, instead squinted down at her like he always did. Like he was trying to figure out just what she was trying to say to him.

Thea stared back in silence, surprised by her own outburst and by the way it had thrown her for an emotional loop. She had grown to consider Daryl a very close friend over the time they had known each other and the idea of losing him made her chest tight. But unlike before, this time it felt different. It felt like if she lost him, she was losing more than just a friend.

And what could _that_ mean?

Rosita's excited face flashed into her mind and she was reminded of the day Cat had woken from her coma. Rosita had demanded to know just what was going on between Thea and Daryl, she had been under the assumption that it was something romantic. Now, standing inches apart and staring each other down, Thea realized that she _had_ developed feelings for the man. And while she wasn't exactly sure what those feelings entailed, she knew that they scared the shit out of her.

Her heart skipped a beat at the realization and she swallowed a lump in her throat. What was she supposed to do with this information? How could she look at Daryl and not tell him how she felt? And _if_ she did feel the way she thought she did, what would be his reaction?

Did he feel the same?

"Thea, can I talk to you?" A distraught voice asked suddenly from behind the archer.

The doctor blinked, after what felt like ages not doing so, and hesitantly peered around Daryl's shoulder to see who had broken the tension. Rosita stood in her pajamas, arms wrapped tightly around herself and tears soaking her face. Her eyes were puffy, indicating she'd been crying for a while.

"Rosita? What happened, what's wrong?" She gasped, moving around Daryl to reach out for the other woman.

The woman cleared her throat. "C-Can we go upstairs?" She asked in a hoarse voice, eyeing Daryl over Thea's shoulder.

Whatever was bothering her, she didn't want to talk about in front of him. Thea nodded her head and used one hand to steer Rosita back into the house. "Of course," She said softly. "Let's go."

As she stepped through the door, she glanced back to find Daryl watching her. He looked deep in thought, his bottom lip was between his teeth again and his eyes squinted so much they almost appeared to be closed.

It was clear that she had confused him, but now wasn't the time to try to explain things to him. She had more serious things to deal with: whatever had sent a tough girl like Rosita into tears being the most important.

Rosita led the way upstairs, ducking into Thea's bedroom instead of her own. Thea shut the door softly behind her and moved to sit beside Rosita on the bed.

"What happened?" She asked gently.

The other woman sniffed and wiped at her face to rid it of the tears that had planted themselves on her cheeks. Taking a deep breath, she responded. "Abraham ended it."

Thea frowned. "Ended…what?" She asked, though she had an idea.

" _It. Us._ " Rosita stated. "He broke up with me."

It was exactly as she had suspected, but hearing it was still surprising. Abraham and Rosita had been together since before they'd joined the group and from what Thea had heard, they'd been together for a while before that. She didn't know what would make the large, redheaded man break things off after being with her for so long. Perhaps it had something to do with his deceased wife and kids? He _had_ brought them up to Thea in the clinic, without prompting. Was he feeling the brunt of their loss now that the group was starting to settle down? Had it drudged up old memories?

Realizing that she hadn't responded to Rosita yet, she shook her head. "Well, what did he say? Did he give you a reason?"

The question brought a look of anger to the other woman's face. "He said that when he met me, he thought I was the only woman left on earth, but now he knows that I'm not."

Thea's eyebrows rose high on her forehead in shock, her mouth agape. "I-I-." she stammered, completely flabbergasted by the harsh words.

Had Abraham meant them or was he simply saying whatever he could to get Rosita to hate him, to make breaking up easier? Or did he genuinely mean what he'd said? Thea found it hard to imagine him speaking those words, but then again, she didn't really know much about the man.

"Who the hell says something like that?" Rosita cried before Thea could respond.

She shook her head. "I-I don't know. Maybe he didn't mean it? Maybe he just said it to make you hate him, so you'd want to break up with him, too?" she tried to reason.

Rosita paused for a moment as she contemplated the statement. As if Thea's words put it into perspective, her face appeared to sober. "That son of a bitch." She snapped, anger suddenly apparent on her pretty features. She stood and began to pace the room. "I have saved his ass more times than I can count. We've been together almost since the beginning! He can't give me the truth? He has to come up with some stupid excuse?"

Thea stood and reached out, grasping the other woman's shoulders to stop her pacing. "Rosita. I know this sucks, and what he said isn't right…but you gotta calm down. He obviously wanted you to get upset, so you'd hate him and make it easier. Don't let him see you like this, okay?"

After a moment, Rosita nodded slowly. The anger in her face slowly gave way to heartbreak and her eyes filled with tears again. Thea sighed tiredly and embraced her slowly, letting her cry it out on her shoulder.

* * *

When Thea woke up the next morning, she was startled by a shifting on the mattress beside her. She tensed, eyes opening quickly as she tried to see who was on the bed with her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." Rosita apologized, offering her a weak smile.

Thea shook her head, mentally scolding herself for being so jumpy. Rosita hadn't wanted to go back to her room and sleep alone the night before, asking Thea to stay with her.

"It's okay. I should get up and get ready anyways." She replied, stretching her arms over her head.

Rosita picked her boots up from where they had been kicked off last night and frowned. "You're going with us? Rick's letting you?"

Nodding, she stood and moved to grab some clean clothes to change into after her shower. Rick had protested her going at first, which wasn't a surprise, but she had quickly shut him down; she had plenty of practice arguing her point with him. "I didn't really give Rick a say in the matter." She explained with a shrug. She was done trying to beg him for the opportunity to prove herself, it was time to take matters into her own hands and _demand_ to be included. Surprisingly, it had worked and she was going with the group.

Rosita smirked and pulled open the bedroom door. "Well, look at you taking control. I like it." She praised before disappearing into her own bedroom.

* * *

 _She was alone. She was always alone. Sometimes when she was trying to get herself to sleep, whether in a storm drain or a tree, she would try to picture that she wasn't by herself. Maybe Cat and Hank were there with her, too. Or maybe it was her mom and dad._

 _Sometimes she pictured the man she'd met at the airport just days before the outbreak._ Negan. _It was such an odd name and she still wasn't sure if it was his first or last. What she did know was that he was nice to her and she had enjoyed the attention._

 _Where was he now? Was he still alive and fighting to survive just like her? Or had he perished in the early days, unable to fend off the dead? Either way, there were occasions when she would picture herself running into him in the woods somewhere and they would try to survive together._

 _Any situation she could conjure up was better than her current one._

 _She would give anything to hear someone actually_ speak _to her, to hear another human's voice. To hear someone say her name again._

 _Cat and Hank were in the wind, her parents were probably dead, and here she was looting like a petty criminal. She had managed to find a small cabin in the middle of nowhere. The owner had either abandoned it or died before they could return home, and she was taking advantage of that._

 _Pulling open one of the cabinets in the tiny excuse for a kitchen, she was relieved to find a couple of cans of food left. She snatched a can of corn of the shelf and froze, surprised to find a photograph tucked in the back of the cabinet. She reached for it, and pulled it out to examine it closely._

 _The picture was in black and white. A man and a woman stood arm-in-arm, beaming at the camera. She was wearing a white, lace dress. He was in a suit. They looked happy._

 _Thea flipped the photo over and read the cursive writing on the back:_ Nadine and Eddie's Wedding, 1963.

 _She turned it back over and smiled softly at the couple. They looked so happy and she couldn't help but wonder where they were now. Part of her hoped they had passed before the outbreak, happy and together one last time._

 _Replacing the picture, she gathered the remaining cans of food and stuffed them quickly into her pack. After a quick search of the cabin, she found no other food or drinks. It was getting chillier outside by the day, so she took a few long-sleeved flannels from the bedroom closet, but nothing else would help her. She could easily stay in the cabin, but she knew she was not the only person in these woods and someone might kill her simply to have a place to lay their head; she wasn't sticking around for the day that happened._

 _Stepping through the back door, she felt her body stiffen at the sight that met her. There were two graves tucked between two trees just ten feet from the back of the cabin, one had been filled with dirt, while the other was still open. A wooden cross was planted in the earth at the head of each._

 _The grave that had been sealed up held a cross that read "_ Nadine" _, while the open grave's cross read "_ Edward" _._

" _Oh, no." She whispered to herself, stepping closer slowly as her heart sank into her stomach._

 _She knew what she would find._

 _A decaying body sat inside the grave, a shotgun in his lap. Edward had killed Nadine, buried her, and then gotten into his own grave to take his life. Worst of all, the stage of decomposition his body was in told her that it had all happened recently, maybe two weeks ago._

" _Shit." She hissed, wiping away the few tears that had slipped down her face._

 _Dropping her bag on the ground, she kneeled down and reached into the hole to grab the shotgun. There didn't appear to be any ammo left, though, and she tossed it to the side in disappointment. Getting to her feet, she grabbed the abandoned shovel from where it lay against a mound of dirt and began to refill the grave. Eddie deserved to rest peacefully with his wife and she was going to help him do that._

 _She found herself hoping that someone would be there to do the same for her, when her time came, but she knew that probably wouldn't be the case. She'd either end up walking the earth as one of the walking dead, or decaying on the road for the rest of eternity._

 _Life wasn't so simple anymore, or fair._

* * *

"Hey," Daryl's voice cut into her memory as he nudged her arm with his crossbow.

She snapped back into reality and realized that the RV had stopped moving and they were the only ones left inside.

"You alright?" He asked, eyes narrowed as he studied her.

Thea nodded slowly, trying to push away the image of those twin graves and that little cabin. "Yeah, just lost in thought, I guess." She replied, standing and stretching her arms above her head for a moment.

He didn't look like he believed her. "C'mon, gotta go look for a walker." He said anyways, exiting the RV swiftly.

She wondered if he was still thinking about what she had said to him the night before, or if he'd simply pushed it out of his mind. Or was he thinking about it as much as she was?

She grabbed the rifle Rick had given her before they'd left Alexandria and followed after the archer. He led the way into the woods, not saying a word to her as they began their search for a walker that looked similar to Gregory.

It was such a weird plan that Rick had come up with, but it just might be weird enough to actually work.

They were silent for a few minutes as they trekked through the tall grass. She stared at the wings on the back of his vest as if they carried all the answers she needed from him. And she wondered if she should try to talk to him about what she'd said.

As she opened her mouth to do just that, he beat her to it.

"Why are you out here?" He asked abruptly, not turning to look back at her.

Thea frowned. "Same reason you are." She answered in confusion.

He stopped walking, turning only halfway to look back at her. "You still tryin' to prove somethin'?"

She shrugged, slipping past him. "I'm always trying to prove something, Daryl." She sighed.

He didn't follow her, instead leaning against the tree behind him as he chewed on his bottom lip thoughtfully. She stopped and faced him expectantly, wondering if he had more to say.

When he didn't speak up right away, she sighed and allowed her feet to carry her back to him, stopping a few feet away. "You always have to carry this burden. You try and take it from Rick, from Carol, from Maggie. You think that if you do something for them so they don't have to, it makes it okay. That if it's _your_ problem, then it doesn't matter."

He was quiet as he took in her words, which was nothing new, but the look in his eyes was different. It was almost like he knew what she was saying was right, but that he didn't want to admit it…or he just didn't think it mattered, like she said.

"That why you're here?" He finally asked. "To keep me from carryin' the burden?"

She shook her head slowly, scoffing at him, and took a few steps forward. "I'm here to _help_ you carry it. I'm not stupid enough to believe that I would be able to stop you from doing something, but maybe I _am_ stupid enough to want to be there with you when you do it. You don't have to be the only one."

Something in his face gave away how the conversation had turned into territory he wasn't comfortable with, but he stood his ground. "Why?"

She got the feeling that he was talking about what she'd said last night, not about carrying burdens. She took a deep breath, heart beginning to race as she realized that she might have to explain her feelings for him.

As if the world had other plans, a low growl sounded from a few yards away and both survivors turned their attention to the walker that was shambling through the trees towards them. It was male, and surprisingly had similar features to the leader of Hilltop.

Daryl straightened up and raised his crossbow. "We ain't finished." He growled at her before setting off towards the walker.

* * *

Rosita had trimmed the hair on the three walker heads that had been brought back to the road in an attempt to make them look like Gregory. Rick, Jesus, and Andy had picked the head belonging to the walker Thea and Daryl had found as the one most likely to pass for the real thing.

"We're gonna take a look around, try to get a feel for how many people are in there. We like how it looks, we go in." Rick was saying to the group once the walkers were taken care of.

Daryl sat on the hood of one of the SUVs they'd brought with them, a cigarette hanging from his fingers. Thea was standing beside Tara on the right side of the vehicle, arms crossed over her chest. She was trying to avoid being near Daryl, knowing that he wanted to keep talking about what they'd been discussing in the woods. She wasn't sure what she wanted to say, or even _how_ to say it.

"A couple hours before dawn. The guards outside will be tired. Everyone inside'll be sleeping. We don't like what we see, we head back, make a new plan." Rick continued. "They don't know who we are. We'll keep Jesus in the shadows. This is how we eat. This is how we eat." He nodded slowly. "We roll out at midnight."

With that, he walked away from the group. Everyone began to wander to wherever they wanted to wait for the time to strike, Maggie and Glenn returning to the RV hand-in-hand. Thea's eyes found Daryl's and she exhaled slowly. She didn't want to have the discussion right now, but she knew that they would have to wait several hours before everything went down. They would have plenty of time to discuss things.

Right now, however, she wasn't ready.

"Thea," Rick called out to her, saving her for the time being.

She followed after him and he led her over to the car parked behind the others. "What's up?" She asked curiously.

He rested one hand on his hip, the other arm on the hood of the car. "I want you to stay back on the perimeter with Maggie and Carol." He stated simply.

Thea scowled, stepping forward to lean against the SUV. "Rick-!"

"No arguments." He cut her off. "I let you come with us, but you know that you going in there was never going to happen. We need you in case something bad goes down."

She scoffed. She had been under the impression that she had gotten the upper hand with him by telling him she was going without asking. In reality, he had played her. He had let her believe she was in control, and then ripped the rug out from beneath her.

Shaking her head at him, she laughed harshly. She had no way of convincing him to change his mind, that much was clear. She sent him a glare that didn't seem to bother him one bit and turned on her heel, stalking back to the RV and yanking open the door.

From where they sat on the bench seat, Maggie and Glenn gave her twin looks of confusion. She ignored them and stormed into the back room of the RV, sitting on the bed and facing away from them.

She would do as Rick said and stay with Maggie and Carol, but the second things went south, she was going in guns blazing.

* * *

She was still pissed. Standing with her rifle in her arms and her eyes trained on the satellite building, her mind was racing. What was going on in there? Were the others okay? She couldn't help but imagine them all being violently slaughtered by the hands of the Saviors while the three women guarding the perimeter were clueless.

Maggie and Carol were silent but she could sense that there was some tension between them. She didn't really care right now, however, so she didn't bother asking what was going on.

It had only been ten minutes since the others went in when an alarm started blaring. It was loud enough that it could probably be heard miles away, and it was probably calling for help.

"Shit." Thea gasped out, gripping her rifle tighter.

"They're in trouble." Carol announced. "Stay here." She began to move towards the fence.

Maggie began to follow her, Thea doing the same. "I'm going with you." The other woman said.

Carol shook her head. "I said stay here."

"No."

Carol stopped and grabbed Maggie's arm as she tried to pass by her. "Damn it, Maggie."

Maggie whipped around. "I have to."

They didn't have time to argue about this.

"No, you don't. You don't have to." Carol snapped.

Thea understood why Carol didn't want Maggie going in; she was pregnant and it was dangerous. She didn't want Maggie in there either, but she wasn't going to say what another grown woman could and couldn't do.

"Yes, I do." Maggie countered.

Thea eyed the satellite facility nervously as they argued.

Carol growled. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"What am I supposed to do?" Maggie asked incredulously.

A walker was approaching them, drawn in by both the alarm and the arguing.

"You're supposed to be someone else." Carol told the pregnant woman.

They stared at each other for a long moment, confusion evident on Maggie's face. "They need our help." She said.

The walker growled from behind her and Maggie whipped around. Carol was quick to dispatch the dead guy and the two went back to sizing each other up as Thea eyes the tree line in search for other walkers that might have heard the alarm.

"You are staying here." Carol reiterated.

Gunfire came from inside the facility, drawing Thea's attention to it. She watched with bated breath for any Saviors that might be escaping, or any Alexandrians.

A scuffle came from behind her, followed by a gunshot. Thea whipped around to find a man on the ground, gunshot wound to his upper leg. Carol had shot him down, and Maggie raised her gun and moved to stand over him.

"Damn it, Maggie, let's go!" Carol shouted at her.

"Not until it's done." Maggie said, standing over the man.

A rustle came from behind Thea and she turned in time to find another man coming through the brush, a handgun raised at her. She lifted her rifle and fired at the same time he did, the shot hitting him right between the eyes.

The bullet from his gun ripped into her left shoulder and she cried out, the force of the shot sending her into a spin. The rifle slipped from her fingers and she fell face first into the ground.

Black overwhelmed her senses.

* * *

 **A/N: Once again, I apologize for the long wait between chapters. After my sister's wedding, I should have more time to write and get chapters posted, so just bear with me!**


	33. To Be Human

**A/N: Here's the next chapter. I spent a lot of time on this one because I wanted the things that happen to be done right. I hope you all will enjoy the way this one goes.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

The first thing she felt when she regained consciousness was an immense amount of pain. She was lying face down in the leaves, her left shoulder and that side of her neck was on fire. For a moment, she didn't know what had happened, but then it came back to her.

"Damn it, they've got him. Give me the walkie." An unfamiliar female voice spoke up from somewhere nearby.

She didn't move. The Saviors were right there, and they probably thought she was dead. Maybe if she waited long enough, they would leave and she could get back to Alexandria. She only hoped she didn't die from blood loss first.

"Babe, what's happening?" A man asked.

There was the static hiss that came with walkies and the woman spoke again. "Lower your gun, prick. You, with the Colt Python. All of you lower your weapons right now."

Thea's heart jumped in panic. This was not how things were supposed to go down.

Over the radio came Rick's voice. _"Come on out, let's talk."_

"How many we got?" A second woman asked.

The first woman responded. "Eight in sight. Too many."

"No, we can take 'em. We took more." The man again.

"We're not coming out, but we will talk." The woman said into the walkie. "Names. Names."

"I'm Maggie, she's Carol." Maggie's voice came.

Thea sighed inwardly knowing they were okay. For the most part.

The radio crackled again. "We've got a Carol and a Maggie. I'm thinking that's something you want to chat about. Now we're gonna work this out right now, and it's going to go our way."

Thea's body shivered as another wave of pain racked through her and she prayed it wasn't noticed. She didn't want them to think she was turning, that they needed to put her down.

Over the radio, Rick spoke again. _"What about Thea?"_ He asked.

There was a moment of silence before the woman with the radio sighed. "She's dead. That wasn't supposed to happen, but she killed one of my men. An eye for an eye."

 _You wish, lady._ Thea couldn't help but think to herself. She wanted to spring up and kill them all, but she could hardly move from the pain.

When Rick spoke again, his voice was strained. He clearly didn't like the news, but he wasn't dwelling on it at the moment. _"You can see we have one of yours. We'll trade."_

"I'm listening."

" _First, I want to talk to Maggie and Carol, make sure they're all right."_

The woman spoke to the two women in question. "I'm gonna put you on. You say you're fine. I'll know if you try anything else."

There was radio static and then Carol's voice came meekly. "Rick, it's Carol. I'm—I'm fine, but—"

The woman cut her off with a scoff. "Now you." She said to Maggie.

"Rick, it's Maggie. We're both okay. We'll figure this—"

The radio cut off. "Shut up." Static again. "You have your proof. Let's talk."

Thea despised this woman already.

" _All right, this is the deal right here."_ Rick began. _"Let 'em go, you can have your guy back and live."_

The woman scoffed into the radio. "Two for one, that's not much of a trade."

" _You already killed one of ours. Besides, you don't have another choice. Or you would have done something about it already."_

The man whispered. "We have to get him back."

"Primo can take care of himself." The woman in charge muttered thoughtfully.

The man scoffed. "He can patch me up, I need him thanks to that bitch. You lost your balls, Paula. You should've shot her in the head so they could hear her die."

 _Paula_ growled at him. "If you could just shut up, I'll solve this."

"Just make the deal or we go in." He countered.

A third woman spoke, her voice older and sounding like she'd smoked two packs a day her whole life. "She said shut up, so shut it. You should be glad she doesn't have a sack of gonads to trip over."

" _Look, I know you're talking it over. It's a fair trade. Just come out, we do this, we all walk away."_ Rick told them.

"Smug prick." The second woman to speak huffed. "He must think we're stupid."

Paula's voice gave away how pleased she was. "That's a good thing."

" _Do we have a deal?"_

"I'll get back to you." Paula answered, followed by the click of the radio being turned off.

Thea held her breath as the Saviors moved around. She was hurting and terrified they would find out she was still alive. She hated playing dead and letting them get away with this, but she had no other options. She was useless with her wound.

There was a commotion, feet shuffling around before growing further and further away. Thea waited impatiently until she heard the sound of a vehicle driving away, and then she released her first sound in nearly ten minutes.

She gasped for breath, whimpering loudly as she shifted and rolled onto her back. The movement caused her shoulder to scream at her and she gritted her teeth together, tears falling from her eyes.

The Saviors, along with Carol and Maggie, were gone and she prayed that Rick and the group hadn't run off just yet. She needed to get back to them, or else she would die out here.

Sitting up proved nearly impossible, a small scream ripping through her throat as the pain grew unimaginably worse. She managed to get to her knees, but she was so light-headed that standing didn't seem like an option; not without something to aide her.

The only thing she had was the fence and she crawled forward painfully hugging her left arm close to her chest, teeth clenched so tightly that her jaw was aching. Each time she dragged herself closer to the chain-link, white-hot fire spread down her arm and chest. Her nerves were firing madly and she was on the verge of passing out again, but this was her life she was fighting for.

Her right hand struggled to grasp the fence, fingers curling around the metal as she willed her legs to stop acting like jelly and _actually support her_. Through the gaps in the fence, she could see Rick and the others still standing in the field just outside the satellite facility.

Rick and Daryl were arguing about something, both standing over a man who was kneeling before them with his hands on his head.

Thea was finally able to get to her feet, leaning most of her weight against the flimsy fence. Her eyes traveled down to her shoulder, finally gathering enough strength to examine her wound. The front of her shirt was soaked crimson and the blood was still coming. She hissed as she pulled her shirt collar aside to examine the state of her shoulder; it was not a pretty sight.

The bullet had gone in at an angle, tearing the skin in a jagged wound that reminded her of a stab wound, except for the hole where the bullet had ended up entering her shoulder. She couldn't stretch far enough to look for an exit wound without sending herself into agony, so she gave up and rested her head against the fence, panting from exhaustion.

She wasn't sure how she would make it across the field when she could barely crawl fifteen feet.

Turning her attention back to the group, she saw that they were still in the same spot. Rick and Daryl had stopped arguing, but it looked like an entirely new discussion had begun. She took a deep breath to steady herself, preparing for the pain that would come, and then stepped through the opening they'd cut in the fence the night before.

Her left arm was hanging limply at her side and she lifted her right hand to weakly apply pressure to the still bleeding injury. She was lightheaded and each step only made it worse. She wasn't sure how much blood she'd lost while playing dead, but it definitely felt like she'd lost too much to actually be walking right now.

As if the thought crossing her mind reminded her body of reality, she stumbled and lost her footing. She fell forward and managed to catch herself, but the force jostled her so hard that she cried out loudly. She wasn't sure if she could get back up.

No, she _had_ to get up. She had to keep moving.

The sound she made was not human, but it propelled her body up and off the ground.

She must have gotten the group's attention at some point, because as soon as she was on her feet again she found herself face-to-face with their weapons. She froze, taking in their horrified expressions. Surely, she must have looked like quite the sight, bloody and white as a ghost.

"Thea?" Glenn asked in a quiet voice, as if he thought she was a walker.

She stumbled where she stood and swallowed hard, trying to find her voice. "Mmhmm." She managed to grumble before her head spun again. She began to teeter forward.

She vaguely registered Daryl shouldering his crossbow and moving towards her, catching her just before she could hit the ground. Pain rattled her and she whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut tightly.

Daryl was kneeling, supporting her in an upright position as Rick came to pull aside her shirt collar.

"Gunshot. Straight through." The sheriff observed.

Thea felt only slightly relieved to hear that there was an exit wound; it was hard to be excited about it when she could feel herself growing weaker.

She was ripped from her thoughts when Rick lifted her arm gingerly. She yelped loudly, eyes wide as she watched him wrap a shredded piece of his shirt under her arm, tying it off with a swift yank.

"J-Jesus!" She exclaimed, her right hand shaking as she lifted it to grasp at her shoulder.

Rick offered a look of sympathy. "We gotta get her back to Alexandria before she bleeds out."

Thea shook her head, grabbing Rick's arm. "No, you have to get Maggie and Carol back. They went west, at least at first."

"They left?" Glenn asked, worry in his voice.

She nodded. "Yeah, to…regroup."

"We have to follow them." Michonne spoke up. She was watching Thea carefully, it was clear the idea of leaving the doctor didn't sit well with her.

From the back of the group, Jesus stepped forward. "I can take her back to Alexandria. You don't want the Saviors seeing me anyways, right?"

Rick was silent for a moment, his blue eyes locked on Thea's shoulder. They flickered up to her eyes, where her eyelids had grown heavy, before he nodded. "Yeah. You take her."

Daryl's fingers circled Thea's wrist, bringing her right arm over his head to wrap around his shoulders. One arm went around the backs of her knees while the other supported her back, and he stood, hoisting her into his arms. She gritted her teeth to keep from crying out again.

Her head lolled limply against his shoulder and she could feel herself drawing closer and closer to unconsciousness. She knew that was dangerous territory, though, so she tried her best to stay awake, focusing her attention on the expression on Daryl's face. She found it odd that he appeared to be trying to keep his expression schooled; she could tell that he was more than a little upset by something. Was it more the fact that Carol and Maggie had been taken, or that she was bleeding to death in his arms right now.

His steps were heavy and jostled her in his arms, and she couldn't hold in a hiss of pain. It drew his blue eyes to her face and she thought she saw something flicker there…but maybe she was just imagining things in her injured state.

Or maybe he was worried about her.

Glenn pulled open the door to a white pickup truck that sat in a row of cars, no doubt owned by the Saviors. Daryl moved around and placed her in the passenger's seat with more gentleness than she expected. He pulled the seatbelt across her chest and leaned over her to buckle it. She could smell his sweat, and the motor oil that somehow always lingered on his skin.

Surprisingly, the combination was comforting to her.

"Keep pressure here." Daryl told her, his voice thicker and gruffer than usual as he pressed her right hand against her bullet wound.

She didn't miss the way he hesitated, eyes studying her face like he was trying to memorize it in case he never saw it again, before shutting the door and leaving her alone in the jeep. It was too quiet, she could hear her own labored breathing and it only made her more conscious of the immense pain she was in.

Maybe if she closed her eyes for just a second she—

A loud knock against the window jerked her back to attention. She tensed, then winced, eyes cutting sideways to where Daryl was glaring at her from the outside.

"Stay awake." He growled.

His bedside manner left something to be desired, but she nodded anyways. Funny how all medical training went out the window when she became the patient.

Rick and Jesus were talking closely in front of the pickup and she furrowed her brow as if it would help her focus her eyes enough to read their lips, but she couldn't really do that when she was in good health, so it was useless now. Maybe she just needed something to focus on, though, to keep herself awake.

After a moment, Jesus and Rick parted ways. The Hilltop member sent Daryl a nod as if to say he'd take care of Thea, and then he got into the truck with her. The engine roared to life and the others got out of the way.

As the truck pulled away, Thea's eyes met Daryl's and he watched her until they passed by. Even then, Thea could see him in the side mirror; he was standing in the same spot, watching the truck leave with that squinted gaze of his.

She watched him until they were on the road and he was out of sight.

* * *

Jesus was quiet as he drove and Thea found it hard to keep herself awake when there was no sound except her struggle to breath without bringing more pain to her body. Every rise and fall of her chest made her shoulder scream in agony.

Her eyelids were heavy and she had to catch herself as her head fell forward.

Jesus seemed to notice her then, and he eyed her wearily.

"Stay awake," He said as if it weren't obvious. "We're not far from Alexandria."

She turned her head to look at him. She hadn't had the opportunity to be alone with him, one-on-one. She'd stood guard with Maggie by her side when he'd been cuffed, but this was different; they knew he was a good guy now.

Glancing her way, he looked almost worried by the sight of her. "Talk to me," he said, probably to distract her. "Why don't you tell me about you and Daryl?"

Thea frowned. Had she heard him right or was her mind fuzzy? "Daryl?" She croaked out, confused.

He nodded, eyes on the road. "Your thing."

She was still confused, and it made her heart beat rise as she tried to adjust herself in the seat to look at him better. " _Thing_? There's no _thing_." She argued weakly.

Her mind was reeling, though. This stranger, who'd only known them for a week, seemed to see something between the doctor and the archer. She had thought it was all in her head, but maybe it wasn't. And if Jesus could see it after so little time being around them, was it obvious to those who had known them for longer?

And if so, why was it so hard for Thea and Daryl to see it themselves?

Thinking about it made her head hurt more than it already did and she squeezed her eyes shut. Her right hand was numb from trying to keep pressure on her shoulder and it fell into her lap. She could feel the blood start seeping freely from the wound and down her chest again.

Jesus muttered to himself and seconds later his hand was on her shoulder, startling her eyes back open. He was pressing the palm of his hand against the bullet wound and she whimpered, trying to squirm away from him.

"I know it hurts, but if you don't keep pressure on it, you'll die." He told her in a soft but firm voice.

She knew that, _of course_ she knew that, but it was harder to be the patient than it was to be the doctor. She could have held pressure on anyone else's wound all day, but she was growing weaker by the minute and she wasn't sure she could put even half the amount of pressure necessary to keep blood from flowing.

He didn't remove his hand from her shoulder, as if he sensed that she couldn't do it herself, and she stopped squirming, breathing heavily.

"Okay, so there's no _thing_. What about Alexandria? Can you tell me about that?"

She appreciated his attempts to distract her. "M-My sister is there." She said softly.

He nodded. "What's your sister's name?"

"Cat. Catherine." She answered. Her eyes fell on an empty bottle with a Jack Daniels label in the floorboard. "She has a son, Henry. They've been there almost since the start."

Jesus was silent for a moment as he took that information in. "But not you?" He wondered.

It took her a moment to respond. She was reminded of the horrors the new world had shown her. "No. I was alone for two years before I found the group. And we didn't find Alexandria for almost a year after that."

He nodded thoughtfully and she returned her attention to the bottle in the floor. "And you were reunited with your sister."

He sounded like he was trying to make her feel better, to try and remind her of what she had back in Alexandria to stay alive for. In the end, what it actually did was remind her of what she was going to leave behind. She didn't know if she'd live through this. Based on how her body felt right now, she was betting on her death being imminent.

She knew the way the body worked. She knew how function left certain areas of the body in order to keep the heart pumping, to keep the body alive. She couldn't feel her arms or legs anymore, not really, and she had the feeling that meant she was closer to death than she liked.

Tears sprung up in her eyes suddenly. "J-Jesus?" She whispered, her head angling to rest on the headrest facing him.

His blue eyes flickered to hers and something in her face must have looked alarming, because his mouth dropped into a deep frown. "Yes?"

She took a deep, shaky breath. "I-If I don't make it…will you find my sister? Can—Can you tell her that I love her?"

It was a lot to ask anyone, especially someone she'd only known a week, but she didn't want to die and leave Cat with nothing. And the likelihood of her dying was higher right now than she cared for.

Jesus swallowed hard, but didn't hesitate to nod. "I will."

He didn't sugarcoat it, didn't try and tell her not to worry and that she'd be fine. She both appreciated that and despised it.

"We're here."

Thea's eyes found the gates of Alexandria about half a mile ahead and she sighed with relief. Maybe they would make it in time for Denise to work some magic. Maybe she would even be able to see Cat before it was too late. Maybe she would be okay.

All the maybes in the world suddenly seemed like nothing. Her head spun wildly. She rested it back on the headrest and tried to focus her vision on the gates as they grew closer, in hopes that she could force herself to stay awake.

As Jesus honked the horn to alert those on guard that they were on their side, Thea's eyes rolled back in her head and she lost consciousness completely.

* * *

There were shouts around her when she drifted back into reality. Her eyes cracked open and she could see she was still in the pickup. Her door was open and Denise was leaning over her with wide eyes as she examined her shoulder. Behind her, Eugene was trying his best to keep a near hysterical Cat back. Her sister's eyes were filled with terror, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Oh, god! Is she okay? What happened?" Cat was demanding of Jesus, eyes not leaving her sister.

Thea couldn't hear what Jesus was saying because it all became blurry again. The sounds around her became warped as if she were underwater.

The last thing she remembered was Tobin lifting her out of the pickup.

* * *

 _Thea's body felt almost weightless when she woke up. She sighed softly and rolled onto her back, left arm reaching out for the other side of the bed as if she was searching for something, or someone. When she found nothing but empty sheets, she frowned and opened her eyes. Sure enough, the other side of the bed was empty. She wasn't sure why she expected someone to be there, or why it disappointed her that someone wasn't, but she felt an emptiness in her stomach at the sight._

 _Shaking it off, she rolled out of bed and pulled on a sweater over her sweatpants and tank top. She was slow to make her way downstairs, hoping that Rosita had brewed some coffee that morning, but as she reached the second landing on the stairs she froze._

 _There was humming coming from the kitchen and she recognized it. Recognized it from before the world had ended. Her heart skipped a beat as she rushed into the room, and it nearly stopped at the sight before her. A small brunette woman stood at the stove with a spatula, flipping what looked like French toast in a pan. Her hair was cut short, barely brushing her shoulders, and a pair of wire-framed glasses were perched on her nose._

" _Mum?" Thea gasped._

 _June Ellis lifted her head and sent her daughter a kind smile. "Good morning, honey," she said, her sweet English accent instantly soothing all the worries Thea had in the world. "I made some tea. Would you like some?"_

 _A kettle she didn't even know they had was resting on the stovetop, two mugs with tea bags on the counter waiting to be filled with the steaming water._

" _What are you doing in Alexandria?" Thea asked, stepping further into the room and looking at the label on one of the tea bags._ Chamomile _, Mrs. Ellis would make it for Thea and Cat when they were growing up._

" _Alexandria?" Her mother was asking, a confused expression on her kind face._

 _It was Thea's turn to be confused and she glanced around to confirm that they were still in her house in Alexandria. They_ were _, but her mother seemed to not know what Alexandria was. And why, and how, was her mother here in the first place? She had been home in West Virginia when everything went down._

 _June was chuckling softly. "You're always so confused when you wake up, even as a baby you were."_

 _The first half of the statement was nearly identical to what Gareth had told her, at least in her nightmare, and she jolted in shock at the memory. The little boy, the pregnant belly, the animalistic grin that had crossed the Terminite's face when he'd told her he'd cooked someone up for breakfast. It made her stomach heave._

 _June was plating the French toast and she set it on the counter in front of Thea. She pulled a bag of powdered sugar from the cabinet and scooped a healthy amount onto the toast before smiling at her daughter. "Eat up, you'll need your strength for the journey."_

 _Thea slowly sat on one of the bar stools and stared down at the breakfast. It looked and smelled delicious._

" _What journey?" she asked her mother, picking up her fork._

 _Placing the pan in the sink, June gave Thea a look like she was silly. "To the other side, of course. You didn't forget, did you?"_

 _She paused with her first bite halfway to her mouth._ The Other Side _? Was she referring to Heaven? The afterlife? Suddenly, she wasn't hungry anymore and she dropped her fork on her plate with a clatter._

 _June started at the noise and faced her, frowning deeply. "Honey, what's the matter?" She asked as she moved to place a soft hand on her forearm._

 _Thea's heart was racing. "Th-The Other Side?" She whispered fearfully._

" _Oh, honey, don't be afraid." June murmured. She moved around to place an arm around Thea's shoulders, hugging her close. "It's so beautiful there, you'll love it. And your father is there, your grandmother, grandfather…they're excited to see you."_

 _Thea's face was wet with tears as she shook her head. It felt so nice to be in her mother's arms again, but she knew this wasn't real._ God, she wanted it to be real.

" _I don't want to go. I'm not ready." She cried._

 _The older woman chuckled again, shaking her head in amusement. "Nobody's ever_ ready _, Thea, but we don't get a say in when we go."_

 _She knew she was right, and yet the idea of accepting her fate and just moving on was so hard. Sure, she would finally be done with all the horrifying things that the new world brought, she could forget all her troubles and the things that had been done to her…but she had so much unfinished business. She needed more time with Cat and Hank. She wanted to see Alexandria thrive, to see Judith start walking and talking. She wanted to figure out things with Daryl…wanted to know if there was something there. If she went with June, she'd lose the chance to do all those things._

 _She needed to do those things._

 _June's hands caressed each side of her face, thumbs wiping away her tears gently. "All you have to do is walk through that door," she said, nodding towards the front door. "I'm gonna go first, give you some time to say goodbye to this place. When you're ready, we'll be waiting."_

 _Thea nodded slowly, more tears leaving her eyes. If she could help it, she wouldn't be joining her mother and father. This was the last time she was going to see her, at least until her time really came._

 _As if she could sense it, June pressed a kiss to Thea's forehead. "I love you." She murmured softly, blue eyes shining with tears of her own._

" _I love you, too." Thea whispered. She was trying her best not to start sobbing and hug June tight and never let go._

 _There was only a moment's more hesitation before June slipped through the front door with one last glance. Thea watched her with cloudy vision. She wanted to follow her so badly._

 _All she would have to do is open the door and she'd be safe. It seemed so easy, and yet it wasn't. Neither was leaving the door closed._

 _Standing up, she took a step forward. She wondered if she could peek through the curtains and see the Other Side, or if it would only be there if she opened the door._

" _No," She said softly to herself. "Not yet."_

* * *

This time when she woke up, her body felt like it weighed a ton. It was almost as if someone had filled her arms and legs with cement. The weight wasn't completely unbearable, and for a moment she thought she might still be asleep, but then the shooting pain in her shoulder returned. It was excruciating, radiating down her whole arm and into her chest.

She whimpered and squirmed on the bed she was laying on, gritting her teeth together as if it would help in any way.

"She's waking up!" Someone exclaimed nearby. It sounded like Denise.

Thea forced her eyes open and found Denise hovering over her with a relieved smile on her face. She adjusted her glasses on her nose and sighed heavily.

"Hey, welcome back." She greeted tiredly.

Thea's mouth felt dry and she licked her lips to try and wet them enough to form words. "You di-didn't have to chop off my arm, did you?" She joked in a hoarse voice.

A look of surprise crossed the other doctor's features and she chuckled quietly with a shake of her head. "No, no. You still have all of your limbs." Her face grew serious after a second and she nodded to her shoulder. "How do you feel?"

She wanted to say she was fine, but the doctor in her knew that it would only help her to tell the truth. Her eyes turned down to try and look at her shoulder. It hurt to move her neck too much, but she managed to catch a glimpse of thick white bandages encasing the area.

"It hurts." She admitted.

Denise nodded slowly. "I didn't give you anything for the pain yet; I just wanted to make sure you woke up first. I'll get you something." She said before disappearing out of sight.

Thea stared at the ceiling for a moment before deciding she wanted to sit up. Thinking it and doing it were two different things, though, and as she attempted to use her right arm to prop lift herself up off the mattress, she found that she didn't have the strength. Her arm shook for a few long seconds before she fell back onto the mattress with a cry of pain.

From out of nowhere, Jesus was hovering over her, pressing a hand against her good shoulder. "That's not a good idea." He told her softly.

"You should take it easy, you just got shot." Denise reminded her, returning with a bottle of painkillers in hand.

The idea of laying on her back for any amount of time didn't exactly sit well with her. She hated the notion that she would be bedridden and useless when the group might need her.

"Besides, you had to have a blood transfusion…you definitely shouldn't be moving around just yet."

Frowning, Thea's eyes fell to her inner arm, where there was gauze taped down. She wasn't surprised that she'd lost a lot of blood, but she _was_ surprised that there had been someone available with her blood type. "Wh-Who donated?" She wondered.

Denise shook out two pill capsules into her hand. "Carl was the only one here who matched."

 _Carl_ had been the one to give her blood? Her eyebrows rose high on her forehead as she wondered how he had made such a big decision on his own and how his father would respond to the act of kindness.

She accepted the pills from Denise, swallowing them down with a gulp of water before dropping her head back onto the pillow, exhausted from the simple action of taking medicine. Denise was hovering over her and she pressed a hand against her forehead for a few seconds, looking relieved when she didn't feel a fever of any kind.

"Did the others make it back yet?" Thea wondered, her mind going back to the moment when the small group of Saviors had descended upon Maggie, Carol, and herself. Had the group rescued the other women and come home yet or were they still out there?

Jesus answered with a shake of his head. "Not yet."

Thea's stomach dropped just a little bit and she had to resist the urge to get out of bed and go looking for them. She wouldn't get very far, not even out of the clinic, and in the end, she'd just do more damage to herself. All she could really do was wait, and it absolutely sucked.

"How long have I been out?" She asked.

Denise turned to look at the clock on the wall. "Just over three hours. Not as long as I thought you'd be down."

It had been three hours and the others were still out there. She couldn't help but begin to imagine a number of scenarios to explain their absence, and none of them were good for them or the people here in Alexandria. Would the Saviors be busting through their gates soon with Rick's head on a pike?

As if on cue, the door to the clinic swung open and startled the three in the room. Thea groaned as she jumped and the action caused pain to shoot through her torso. All three turned their heads to see who was bursting in and the relief was almost palpable in the room when it was Rick, followed by Glenn and Maggie.

The sheriff crossed the room quickly, striding over to her bed and taking Jesus's place as the Hilltop member back away. Rick's eyes studied Thea's shoulder before meeting hers. "Are you okay?" He asked, right hand landing on her right shoulder.

She was so overwhelmed by the look of pure concern in his eyes. Looking away, she could see the same expression on Glenn and Maggie's faces as they stood at the foot of her bed. Turning back to Rick, she nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay."

Denise spoke up on her other side. "She had some tissue damage, but the bullet missed her artery and collarbone. She got lucky. She lost a lot of blood, though, and we had to do a transfusion. I hope it's okay…Carl was the only match we could find. He volunteered."

A genuine look of surprise crossed Rick's face and he was silent for a long moment before nodding his head. "Y-yeah, of course." He stuttered, before turning his attention back to Thea. "I'm glad you're okay. Get some rest, all right?"

When she nodded, he was quick to leave the clinic, and she could only assume it was to go and find his son. Thea's eyes followed him out the door before turning to Glenn and Maggie, specifically the latter.

"Are you okay? The baby?" She asked, eyes scanning the woman for any injuries. What stood out most was a slice in her shirt right across her lower abdomen. There didn't appear to be any blood around the opening, so perhaps her stomach hadn't been cut.

Maggie shook her head. "I'm fine, _we're_ fine. Don't worry about me, worry about getting better."

She didn't know why she asked about the older woman, but she did. "And Carol?"

"She'll be okay, too." Maggie reassured her, though there was something else behind her eyes that told Thea that _something_ had happened that may have hurt the two former hostages in a way not seen with the naked eye.

Thea nodded slowly. "And everyone made it back okay?" she continued to question.

Glenn let out a soft chuckle and moved to stand on the left side of the bed, a small smile on his face. His hand reached out to take hers and he squeezed it reassuringly. "Everyone made it back, Thea." He spoke softly.

Thea nodded again, and she sighed with relief. Then, as if the term 'everyone' hadn't included him, she saw Daryl's concerned face flash in her mind. The look of worry when he'd carried her to the pickup truck was stuck in her mind. "Daryl?" she wondered before she could stop herself.

She didn't miss the smirk that Jesus gave her.

"He's fine, too." Glenn replied, squeezing her hand again.

She sighed heavily, suddenly feeling the exhaustion from the day. The pain medicine was starting to kick in, and she thought perhaps she could get some actual rest when she wasn't in pain.

Sensing how tired she was, Glenn released her hand and stepped back. "Get some rest, we'll see you later." He told her, returning to Maggie's side and putting an arm around her shoulders to usher her away to the other side of the clinic, Jesus following them.

Denise smiled down at her and nodded in agreement. "Sleep. I'll be here if you need anything."

That seemed to be the last cue she needed before she closed her eyes and found herself drifting off into a much-needed rest.

* * *

She wasn't sure how much time had passed when she woke up next. There was a knocking on the clinic door that pulled her from her rest, and she inhaled sharply, eyes cracking open to see what was going on.

It was dark in the clinic, Denise having closed up for the night, and she could see that it was equally as dark outside. Which posed two important questions: what was going on and was everyone okay?

She could hear footfalls on the stairs and then Denise was coming around the corner in sweatpants and a loose t-shirt. She was wiping the sleep from her eyes, glasses in her free hand as she moved. She didn't spare a glance in Thea's direction as she replaced her glasses on her nose and unlocked the door, pushing it open slowly.

"Daryl?" She asked in confusion, opening the door further.

Thea wasn't sure why she closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep.

Daryl's gruff voice came from the porch. It sounded like he was trying to be quiet. "Hey..." he started off awkwardly.

When he didn't say anything further, Denise spoke. "Is something wrong?"

"She all right?" He asked instead of answering.

There was a moment of pause before Denise responded. "Yeah, she's okay. She's gonna be off her feet for a little bit, but she's gonna be okay."

Silence again. Thea could almost see the awkward exchange between the two of them and she bit her lip to keep from laughing audibly.

Daryl's boots on the porch started to leave and Denise stuttered. "Well…h-hey, i-is there anything else you needed, or…?"

She could practically hear Daryl shrugging his shoulders, like he always did. "Nah."

As she listened to Daryl's boots leave the porch, and then Denise locking back up and returning upstairs, Thea tried to figure out just what had happened. Why would Daryl come all the way to the clinic in the middle of the night just to ask how she was doing, when he could have just asked Rick or Glenn?

She tried not to overthink, but she couldn't help if it was preventing her from going back to sleep. Her confusion kept the cogs turning in her mind until nearly dawn before she finally passed out.

* * *

She hadn't slept long, maybe four or five hours, before the pain in her shoulder woke her. It had been a dull ache overnight as the medicine slowly wore off, but now it was throbbing profusely. She groaned, squeezing her eyes shut to keep her tears from escaping her watering eyes. She wondered where Denise was and if she could get some pain medication for breakfast.

Forcing her eyes open, she stared at the ceiling for a moment before glancing around the clinic. There was no one in sight and she wondered where Denise had gone. Regardless, she couldn't stand to wait for her to return, not with the pain she was feeling. She shoved the blanket off of her and struggled into an upright position. Her head spun, but she swallowed hard and steadied herself.

Standing was harder than she thought it would be. She swung her legs over the side of the bed with a wince, and she was glad that Denise had put her arm in a sling; where the sling had come from was unknown, however. Pausing for a few seconds, she finally stood to her feet. She wobbled in place and had to reach out to steady herself on the cabinet beside her bed, but it passed quickly and she began taking uneasy steps across the clinic.

She wasn't sure how long it took to reach the cabinet against the far wall, but by the time she got there she'd worked up a sweat; probably from the pain and overexertion combined. She reached up to open the cabinet as the clinic door opened.

"Thea!"

She whipped her head around to see her sister and nephew entering the clinic. Cat's eyes were wide as she shut the door behind her and rushed across the room.

"What the hell are you doing out of bed?" She demanded to know.

Thea scowled, not liking being yelled at by her little sister, especially in her condition. "There was no one here and my pain meds wore off." She replied with a heavy breath.

Cat's eyes softened only slightly and she reached out to wrap an arm around Thea's waist, pulling her right arm over her shoulders. She turned them around and helped her back to bed before returning to the cabinet and finding the right pill bottle.

"We brought you breakfast." Hank said as he stopped by the side of Thea's bed, placing an apple and a granola bar on the mattress.

Thea smiled weakly at him. "Thanks, Hank." She said, reaching out to ruffle his hair.

Cat came back with the pills and handed them to her, offering a glass of water that she must have gotten while Thea was distracted with Hank.

"Thank you." She said, quickly swallowing the pills and sighing with relief. It would take at least thirty to forty minutes for them to kick in, but she was relieved that they were at least on their way to working for her.

Catherine was staring at her with an odd expression on her face and Thea frowned. "What is it?" She asked. Had something happened while she'd been unconscious? Was everyone okay?

Her sister shook her head. "You scared me to death." She croaked out. "When Jesus showed up with you…bleeding…you were so pale, and there was so much blood." She lifted a hand to wipe furiously at her wet cheeks.

Thea reached out to grab Cat's free hand, her own eyes welling up as she watched her sister fall apart in front of her.

"I can't lose you again, Thea. I-I haven't even gotten you back yet and you're going off on these missions and almost getting killed and I just can't—"

"—What do you mean, you haven't gotten me back yet? I'm right here." Thea interrupted.

Cat shrugged one shoulder. "Are you?" She asked. "I barely see you. You're always with Daryl, or Rosita, or any of the people you showed up here with. And when we _are_ together, you're not the same. You're completely different. And I know that you went through a lot of shit out there, you lost people and you saw a lot of bad things, but I just don't get it. You're so different, and you won't…you won't talk to me."

As Cat rambled on, Thea let go of her hand. She knew that Cat was right, of course she was right. Thea hadn't exactly been a model sister since they'd been reunited. She couldn't help that the things she had seen and the things that had happened to her had changed her in ways that she was still trying to process. And she refused to tell Cat about her attack, or what happened with the Terminites; she didn't want to put that kind of weight on her shoulders.

Everyone who knew seemed to gain an extra burden, at least in her opinion. Maybe it was in her head, but it seemed like when they looked at her there was something _different_ in their eyes. It wasn't pity, but whatever it was made her feel bare to the world and she didn't want Cat to look at her that way.

She took a deep breath, not meeting her sister's eyes. "I'm sorry." Was all she could manage to say, shameful of the secrets she'd been keeping and the way it had pulled them apart.

There was a heavy silence between them before Cat sighed harshly. "That's all you can say? 'I'm sorry'? You're not going to tell me what's going on or act like you don't know what I'm talking about?"

Thea shook her head and finally met the blonde's eyes. "No, you're not wrong."

When she didn't say anything further, Cat's blue eyes narrowed into slants and her pale face reddened with anger. She scooped Hank up from where he was eating the apple he'd brought his aunt, and placed him on her hip. "I'm done trying to get information out of you, Thea. If you don't want to talk to me, then don't talk to me." She paused. "I'm really glad you're okay."

With watering eyes, she rushed across the room and exited the clinic with Hank waving at Thea over her shoulder.

Thea felt her heart break and she knew that no matter how hard she tried, she was pushing her sister away. If she didn't tell Cat what had changed her, she would become a stranger. The only issue was how difficult it was to even _think_ about telling her, actually telling her was worse.

But if she _didn't_ tell her, if she continued to let their relationship decay, then it would be her fault when they stopped being sisters.

How could she tell her, though? How could she say those words to the one person who meant the most to her?

Sighing heavily, she gingerly rested back against the pillows of her bed and stared up at the ceiling in quiet contemplation. She needed to figure out what she was going to do before it was too late.

* * *

Denise brought her dinner that night, a chicken broth soup that Carol had made, and after they'd eaten together and chatted for a little while the bespectacled woman had retired upstairs for the evening. Thea could tell that she was feeling down with Tara away, and that had played a factor in her going to bed early.

Staring up at the ceiling was only appealing to Thea for so long, she didn't even have a book, and she eventually grew antsy. Struggling to her feet, she adjusted her sling into a more comfortable position and then slipped into her shoes, careful to not make any noise and alert Denise to her escape plan.

As she closed the door softly behind her and made her way to the sidewalk, she didn't have plan on where she was going. The cool air felt good, even if her head was still a little fuzzy from laying down all day, and she found herself heading in the direction of home.

The sun had almost completely disappeared beneath the horizon line and there wasn't a soul outside the houses at the moment. Alexandria was peaceful, but also a bit eerie; if the walls weren't repaired she would be wary to walk alone at night without a weapon and only one working arm.

When she made it to her street, she eyed the big blue house first and realized that she hadn't gotten the chance to thank Carl yet. She steered herself in that direction, feeling that when she had a purpose to where she was going, it made it easier to walk on her wobbly legs.

Trudging up the porch steps, she sighed heavily from exhaustion and knocked on the door. She wasn't sure why she didn't just walk in considering she'd done so many times before, but it was late and she wasn't sure what Rick and the others were doing.

The door opened and the sheriff himself gave her a confused expression. "Thea? Should you be out of the clinic?" he asked.

She had to stop herself from shrugging her shoulders, knowing that would probably hurt like hell. "I got bored," she said. "Besides, I realized that I still haven't thanked Carl for what he did."

Rick glanced behind him before nodding, offering her a small smile. "Come on in."

He stepped aside and she was glad to get out of the cool air and into the warm house. She spotted Carl and Michonne sitting around the coffee table with a deck of cards, Judith resting on Michonne's lap lazily with her own toy.

Michonne smiled at her. "Hey, good to see you on your feet." She said.

Carl had his back to her and he turned to see who had come in. He gave a small wave, a smile on his face that reminded Thea of his father.

"Hey, I was just going for a walk and I still needed to thank you for donating blood to me. Something like that isn't an easy decision to make, so…thank you." She spoke awkwardly.

Carl shook his head once with a smile. "It wasn't that hard of a decision, Thea." He reassured her.

It still amazed her how deep his voice had gotten since she'd met him; puberty had hit him like a train.

She nodded her head slowly. "Well, I just wanted to thank you. I don't know if I would have made it without your help."

"Let's not think about that." Rick came up behind her, putting a hand on her good shoulder. "Did you have dinner yet?" He asked.

He must not have been around when Carol had sent Cat to her with soup. "Yeah, Cat brought me some soup." She told him. "And I should actually get back to the clinic before Denise finds out I escaped and sends a search party."

Rick nodded. "Want me to walk you back?" He offered.

Shaking her head, she smiled. "No, I think I can manage, thank you."

"Get some rest, Thea." Michonne ordered gently with a smile. With a baby on her lap and the soft expression on her face, she looked incredibly maternal. It looked good on her.

She waved goodbye and moved back out to the street, but only made it as far as her place next door before she stopped. Daryl was standing with his back to the street, leaning back against the porch railing with his crossbow in his hands. The last time she'd seen him was when he'd been in the sideview mirror of the truck, watching her being driven away while she bled out.

And then he'd come to the clinic last night to check on her, but it hadn't seemed like he wanted her to know he was there; she was still trying to figure out why.

Veering on the sidewalk, she allowed her feet to carry her through the grass and up the porch steps. As her boots hit the wood, Daryl's head whipped around to see who was sneaking up on him. Though he relaxed slightly upon seeing her, his shoulders were still tense.

"Hey," She said softly, a small smile pulling onto her face almost effortlessly.

She moved around him and stood against the railing on his right side, resting her left elbow against the wood to relieve some of the pressure from the sling.

There was an odd look in his eyes as they wandered over the dark blue material that was holding her left arm against her chest and he was silent for a long moment before jutting his chin in her direction. "All good?" He asked.

It was a vague question, the kind of question someone asked when they were trying to act like they didn't care about the answer. No personal attachment to the person they were asking about within the question. She wondered why he seemed so guarded after they'd spent months becoming close.

Nodding slowly and trying not to look too upset by the bluntness, she glanced down the street before answering. "Yeah, yeah, it's all good." She spoke in a quiet voice. "I mean, it hurts like hell, but I'll live. That's all that matters."

"Mmhmm." Was all he said…or muttered.

He still wasn't really looking her in the eyes, and she frowned. Something was different about him, something _off_. "Daryl?" She asked, waiting until his eyes settled on her face, still not her eyes, to continue. "Are you okay?"

He was chewing on his bottom lip as he shrugged one shoulder, eyes falling to the porch. It was obvious he wasn't going to respond verbally.

Thea studied his face with deep confusion, from the hair hanging over his blue eyed, furrowed gaze, to the stubble on his chin. There was something he wasn't telling her, something more than just being tired or being worried about the Saviors. She could sense something… _more._

Reaching out, she placed her hand on his forearm. His name left her lips again, this time barely a whisper. "What's that matter?" she wondered.

After a moment, he shook his head. She thought that yet again he wouldn't answer her, but after a moment he replied. His voice was low, thick. "Thought you were gonna die."

Something in the way he said it had her heart skipping a beat. He sounded almost childlike, as if he were admitting to something he'd done that was wrong; or that he was scared of the emotions he appeared to be feeling. She didn't like the shame that was on his face, didn't care for how he considered his feelings to be invalid.

"Daryl." She murmured, reaching across him to grip his left arm and using what little strength she had to turn his body towards hers. "I'm fine." The skin of his bicep was warm against her palm as she squeezed it reassuringly.

She found herself taking a step closer until they were nearly chest to chest so she could catch his downcast eyes with her own. He tilted his chin up slightly to look at her fully and she gave him another smile.

"I'm alive. Everyone made it back alive today. That's what we wanted, that's what happened." She tried reassuring him again.

He shrugged. "One of us almost didn't. Things didn't exactly go as planned."

Before she could stop herself, her palm was resting against the curve of his jaw. Her fingers slid around the back of his neck, thumb brushing against the shell of his ear before resting just below it. She used her hand to make him meet her eyes again.

"Daryl, look at me." She spoke firmly, waiting until he listened. Now that they stood inches apart, she was reminded of the fact that he was at least five inches taller than her; her head was tilted back significantly just to meet his eyes.

She wondered if the look in his eyes was discomfort or something else.

"Yeah, it sucks that I got shot. I could have gone the rest of my life without getting shot, but I'm okay. I'm still here." She told him with a soft laugh. She shook her head, the fingers at the back of his neck smoothing down a few locks of hair there. Her face sobered and she sighed. "We've been through some awful shit, Daryl. Sometimes I'm not sure how we manage to survive it all…but I think…I think that it's because of the people around us…" She trailed off, unsure of how to say what she wanted to say.

"…Sometimes, I think that I get by because I have you."

It was barely a whisper, and when he didn't respond she thought that maybe she hadn't said it out loud at all. But she could tell he had heard her by the way that his shoulders tensed. He didn't move away from her, though. Didn't try to brush her off or act like what she was implying wasn't a big deal. He was nearly as still as a statue, except for his eyes; they darted between hers as if one would tell him something different from the other one. She didn't miss the way the flickered lower on her face for a moment.

And then, before she could even think about the possible repercussions to her actions, she felt herself rising up onto the tips of her toes slowly. Her heart felt like it had stopped beating. He didn't try to move away from her and she took it as a green light; her eyes fluttered closed as she pressed her lips against his lightly.

It wasn't like any kisses in her past life. Those had always been rushed and passionate, aggressive even. She hadn't had any serious relationships before the end of the world; she had always been too busy to even think past a few nights. When the world had ended, romance had been the last thing on her mind, and after what had happened at the library…it had been nonexistent. Now, however, she was coming to realize that her feelings for Daryl had gone far beyond friendship or family. She cared for him in a way she hadn't cared for someone in a very long time.

She wasn't sure if he was responding well or not. He seemed to be stiff as a board still, and just as she thought perhaps she had taken things too far, his hand was hovering over her left elbow. It was almost as if he wanted to hold her, but didn't exactly know how. Instead, he opted for a loose grip on her arm.

Thea was unsure if he was going to push her away or if he'd kiss her back, but then she felt his lips pressing back against hers. There was a fluttering in her chest that probably would have concerned her in any other situation.

"Thea, can I talk to yo-oh…" Cat's voice came from down by the street, interrupting them.

Daryl ripped himself away from Thea like she was on fire, stepping back a few feet and casting his eyes down to the porch. It was dark, but she was sure she could see his face red with embarrassment. Or perhaps it was something else.

She felt cold without the warmth of his body heat, but she tried not to mourn that loss too much. Licking her suddenly dry lips, and trying not to think about how Daryl's lips had just been on hers, she turned her attention to her sister.

Cat stood on the sidewalk with her arms crossed, eyes flickering back and forth between the two on the porch. There was a mixture of curiosity and concern there, but she didn't say anything about it.

"Can we talk?" She asked, eyes stopping on her sister finally.

Thea returned her attention to Daryl, who was once again refusing to meet her eyes. She wondered what was going through his head. Did he regret what had just happened? Did he want to forget it completely? She wanted to talk to him and see where they stood after this, but Cat had come to her and they had just been fighting, she needed to fix things there, too.

Daryl made a grunting noise and shrugged one shoulder, eyes still down. He didn't say a word as he turned and disappeared inside, making a quick getaway.

Sighing in defeat, Thea moved down the porch steps towards the sidewalk. "Yeah, let's talk." She told Cat quietly, jerking her head in the direction of the clinic. She should probably get back before Denise got worried anyway.

* * *

Neither of them said a word until they were a block from the clinic. Cat finally took a deep breath and spoke up, saying what Thea could tell she had been holding in for the entire walk.

"What's going on with you and Daryl?" She wondered.

Thea heaved a sigh, shaking her head. "I-I don't know. And I don't really want to talk about it, okay?" She hoped that she didn't come off as rude, but until she figured out what the kiss meant she didn't want to spend any time theorizing with anyone.

Luckily, Cat seemed to understand, simply nodding in agreement.

They stepped into the clinic and were immediately greeted with Denise's worried face. The blonde woman sighed in exasperation when she spotted her missing patient.

"I was just about to send up a flare! Where did you go?" She demanded, eyes traveling between the two sisters in question.

"We just went for a walk." Cat lied effortlessly.

Denise eyed them for a moment longer before nodding again. "Okay, but Thea should really be in bed. She shouldn't be on her feet much for the next few days."

Cat stepped closer and placed a hand on Denise's shoulder. "I promise, I will get her back into bed. We're just gonna stay up and have some girl talk for a little bit. If we get too loud, feel free to give a shout."

It was such a subtle and nice way of letting the other woman know that they wanted to be left alone, and Denise fell for it. Cat had always been so good at pleasantries, it often made Thea jealous in the past. She couldn't find a way to say things like that and actually sound authentic; people saw right through her and called her on it without hesitation.

Cat was a master at the craft, though, and Denise didn't seem to sense that she was being sent away. She said goodnight before returning upstairs to go to sleep.

Once they were left alone, Thea felt a weight on her shoulders; Cat was going to want to talk about things again and this time she had the feeling she wasn't going to be able to deflect her questions.

Knowing this was going to be a long conversation and not wanting to fall over, she planted herself on one of the bar stools at the kitchen island that doubled as a desk for Denise and herself.

Cat found herself on the opposite side of the counter and they stared each other down for a full minute before either one of them spoke.

It was the younger Ellis sibling who broke the silence. "I'm sorry I pushed you before…but I just wish that you would talk to me. I wish you would just _let me in_ so I can try to understand what is going on with you."

This again. The idea of telling her sister about all the horrible things didn't entice her in the slightest and she wanted nothing more than to crawl back into her temporary bed and pull the blanket over her head. She couldn't keep Cat in the dark for too long though, or else they might never be able to go back to the way things were before the end of the world.

Realizing that she was going to have to tell her sister she'd been violated and hurt on multiple occasions made her heartrate skyrocket. Her palms began to sweat and she suddenly became very enthralled in the marble pattern on the countertop.

"Thea," Cat pleaded softly. "Please."

Her right hand shook as she brushed the loose strands of hair off her face.

"I don't want you to look at me any differently." Her voice was a hoarse whisper.

Catherine's eyebrows furrowed in concern and she leaned forward against the countertop. "Thea, you're my sister. Nothing you say is going to change the way I look at you."

She shook her head in disbelief, blinking back tears. She believed that Cat loved her, but she didn't think that she could look at her without pity in her eyes once she knew what had happened.

A few tears spilled down her cheeks as she stared wide-eyed and chest heaving. "T-There's so much to tell you. So much has happened."

"Okay, not to be cliché, but just start at the beginning then."

It wasn't that easy, but she wouldn't be able to leave Cat in the dark anymore. She had to tell her everything even if it meant subjecting herself to horrifying flashbacks and pain.

She took a deep breath and then began as far away from the prison as possible. "When we got separated, I was on my own for two years. I ran into a people every now and again, but they either turned out to be too dangerous or they died." She shook her head at the memory of Deborah's lifeless body, pregnant stomach icy to the touch.

"Michonne, Daryl, and a couple of others found me in a pharmacy. They took me back to their camp…which was a prison they'd made their own. It was great there for a while, but things changed." She stopped, unable to think of the way to put things into words. How could she admit that she'd been caught off guard and degraded in such a way?

Her eyes fell to her hand on her lap as she pulled at a loose thread on her jeans and cleared her throat. "I went on a run with Glenn, Maggie, and Daryl. We found this group of men, one of them was pretty badly injured and I didn't feel comfortable leaving him so we took the group back to the prison with us. They all seemed so nice—" Her throat tightened and more tears brimmed in her eyes. She could see Hoyt's face in her mind and it made her chest throb.

"—There was a man named—" another shake of her head "—his name doesn't matter. He got it in his head that I was interested in him. He thought that me being polite was a form of flirting or something."

An unusual burst of courage had her meeting Cat's eyes. The blonde was watching her with eyes so wide that they might have been comical in any other situation. Her mouth was parted slightly in a silent gasp, as if she already knew what Thea was going to say.

She continued anyway. "One night, he attacked him in the prison library. One of the other men from the group, this _kid_ , held me down while the man, he—he r- _aped_ me." Her voice cracked and betrayed her and she felt her face crumple with a sob. She rested her right elbow on the counter and buried her face in her hand to muffle her crying.

"Thea." She heard Cat whisper in horror from across the counter.

Lifting her head to see what her sister's face looked like was the last thing she wanted to do. She didn't want to see the change, the pity, the new way she'd be looking at her. But she powered through it and wiped furiously at her wet cheeks, eyes finding Cat's wide and watery baby blues.

She continued, taking in a shaking breath. "After we were forced out of the prison, we went to this place called Terminus. The people there were awful…they locked us in a train car, tried to kill us. We escaped, but we destroyed Terminus so those people followed us. They took me and one of our group, Bob, hostage. They tied me up, my wrists to my ankles, and when I woke up they had cut off Bob's leg and they were…they were _eating_ it."

"Jesus." Cat hissed. There were tears on her cheeks.

Her throat was tight as she saw that night flash before her eyes. Talking about all of this was an accumulation of emotions that was overwhelming her. She felt like her skin was going to shake right off her frame, or her stitches would come loose simply from how tense her shoulders were.

"I keep seeing their faces," she whispered. "The man from the prison, the man from Terminus. And I'm _fucked up._ I'm such a mess that sometimes I can barely function. The nightmares are so real that I wake myself up vomiting. The smallest thing can trigger a memory that has me in the fetal position. And I couldn't tell you because I can't bear the thought that you would see me differently, or that you would start treating me differently."

Cat was shaking her head slowly as she rounded the kitchen island. Her hand landed softly on Thea's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Thea. None of that should have happened to you. And I should have been more understanding. Of course, awful things have happened to you in the years we've been separated, but I never could have imagined-." She was shaking her head again, like it was all she could do. "But I don't see you any differently. You're my sister, and I love you, and I'm sorry…but you're still the same to me as you were before."

Thea could feel her chin quivering as her vision clouded with tears. It was more than she could have asked for, especially given all the scenarios she had played in her mind regarding spilling the news to Cat. But she felt foolish now that the words were out in the open and she was proven wrong; she should have known that her sister would never judge her for the things that had happened against her will.

A sob escaped her and Cat pulled her into a tight hug, mindful of her injured shoulder. She didn't say another word as Thea began to cry into her shoulder, only made soft shushing noises that were probably purely out of motherly instinct.

Having Cat in the know felt like a weight had been lifted off her soul, and though it wouldn't make everything alright, it might help keep her from absolutely losing her mind.

And maybe this was the start of something good. A start to getting better.

* * *

 **A/N: So, we finally have a kiss! I was really trying to make it an authentic moment, so please let me know what you guys think about it. And although we have a kiss, Thea has finally told Cat the truth. So, the real question is, how will this affect Thea's relationships going forward? And how do you think Daryl is going to react to the kiss? I would love to hear your thoughts!**


	34. Two Ghosts

**A/N: I KNOW. It's been a long time since I updated. Wanted to apologize quickly before getting to the chapter, I was dealing with some very serious personal** _ **and**_ **family issues that caused extreme writer's block and also took up a lot of my time. But I'm here now with a new chapter, I just hope that you all haven't abandoned me just yet!**

 **ALSO, through extensive research, I discovered there were 8 days between the last episode I did (The Same Boat) and the one after it (Twice As Far). So, I wanted to do something a little different with that time, something I feel like Thea and Cat really needed. I hope you guys enjoy this tiny little divergence from the story.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

There was a bead of water growing ever so slightly on the end of the faucet. She had been watching it for what felt like a full two minutes, waiting for it to finally drop into the steaming hot bath water she was sitting in. It stretched itself out impossibly long before finally letting go of the stainless steel it clung to and becoming one with the water below.

"Thea, are you listening to me?" Cat's voice broke through her concentration. Her sister was sitting on a small stool she'd taken from the vanity in the bedroom, perched beside the claw-foot tub with a loofa in hand.

"Hmm…?" she hummed, hazel eyes meeting blue. "No, I'm sorry. I was just…thinking."

The blonde frowned. "About what?"

It had been two days since she'd been shot, since she'd told Cat the truth about everything…since she'd _kissed Daryl_. It was all so much to think about, but what had her mind reeling at the moment was the dream she'd had when she'd been bleeding out. Or was it even a dream? She didn't know what it was but seeing her mother had seemed so… _real_. It had _felt_ real.

She paused for a long moment. "I saw mum." She muttered.

The hand that held the loofa froze as it was wringing water from the spongey material. Cat's brows furrowed deeply as she studied her sister's face. "What do you mean?" She asked slowly.

Thea took a deep breath. " _I saw mum_ ," she repeated. "When I was bleeding out…I think I was dying. Or…maybe I was close. I-I think I went to the other side."

Cat's eyes were comically wide. " _What_?" She whispered, suddenly out of breath.

She wanted to reassure her, but there was so much left to say. "Or maybe just…somewhere in between. But Mum was there. She was _there_." Her eyes stung with tears at the memory.

There was a moment of silence before Cat shook her head. "No, Thea, you were so out of it. You probably just imagined it." The blonde tried to reassure her.

That would be an easy way to explain it; she was in shock and experiencing serious body trauma, and the amount of blood loss she'd suffered should have killed her. It made sense that in her darkest moment she would imagine something like her mother coming to take her to someplace better. But it had been _so real_. It had felt real. Her mother had held her and kissed her and she could hear her voice so clearly, feel her lips on her skin.

Nowadays, people didn't get happy endings like that. It could have been a delirious dream; but it could have been real.

"No," she said firmly. "This was r- _eal_." Her voice cracked as tears pricked her eyes. She was so certain that this was more than just her mind playing tricks on her.

Cat didn't look like she was keen to have this conversation, but she sighed softly, almost like she was humoring a small child's daydreams. "What did you see?"

She shook her head slowly as if it would help clear the fog from her mind, as if she needed help remembering. She didn't. She would see it for the rest of her life, however long that may be.

"She was here, in Alexandria. She made me breakfast." She began, eyes facing straight ahead, finding another droplet of water on the faucet to focus on. "She told me that I needed to eat…to get ready for the journey—"

"—journey?"

"To the other side?" Thea wasn't sure why she made it a question when she knew the answer. "She told me that Dad was there, that they had been waiting for me for a long time."

For a second, it appeared that Cat believed her. "Like…since the beginning?" she asked fearfully.

Thea had often found herself wondering what had happened to her parents. Had they made it to a safe zone? Had they tried their luck on the road and survived for a bit before succumbing to the new world order? Or had they sheltered in their home and hoped for the best? And if they had…how long did they manage to survive before they too perished.

And most importantly: were they walking the earth as one of the dead, or had they been put out of their misery?

"I don't know." She finally answered. "But she wanted me to go with her. I got the feeling she knew I wasn't ready, though. She hugged me so tightly and told me she loved me…and then she walked out the door. She told me whenever I was ready, I could go too."

When her eyes found her sister's, she could see a few tears had streaked down her cheeks. Her blue eyes were cast downwards solemnly and there was a slight quiver to her chin.

Cat had lost so much with the end of the world, and it was all hitting Thea now. Their parents, Cat's husband, and for a little while she'd believed Thea was dead, too. It only occurred to her now that her sister was struggling just as much as she was.

"If it _was_ real…what does it mean?" the blonde finally asked, her voice thick.

Thea shook her head. "I don't know. But, I want to find out."

Blue eyes snapped to meet hazel, one pair confused while the other determined. "What do you mean?"

She knew this was a stupid idea, especially considering she'd just been shot and had nearly bled to death. This wasn't the type of thing that was a priority anymore, but that didn't make it any less important.

"I want to go home." She whispered. "We're only a couple of hours away from Richmond; I want to go back there. I _have_ to know what happened to them. I want you to come with me."

Cat let out a surprised chuckle, shaking her head like she thought Thea was crazy. "That's a two-hour drive, Thea. You're still recovering, and I'm not exactly an expert against those… _things_."

The brunette lifted her good arm out of the tub and grabbed her sister's forearm to regain her focus. "I know, that's why I'm gonna ask Daryl and maybe Glenn to come with us. Aaron and Eric can watch Hank, we'll be back in a few hours, no big deal."

"No big deal?" Cat questioned incredulously. "You can't just ask two people to put their lives on the line so we can go and confirm that our parents are dead!"

The blonde threw the loofa into the tub and stood. She began pacing the room, one hand on her hip and the other fiddling with the necklace she always wore. It was a gift from her husband; a little silver heart with Hank's birthdate on it.

"I know, Cat, I know that. But I _have_ to do this, and I can't do it alone. They'll help, I know they will."

Facing her sister, Cat shook her head. "Just because they will doesn't mean they should. We can't ask this of them."

Thea smiled slowly. " _We_?"

It earned her a roll of the eyes. "If you're going, I'm going. _Obviously_."

Sitting up slowly, Thea pulled the plug on the tub. The bath water, which had turned a dark pink color from the blood that had dried in her hair and on her body, began to drain. Cat came forward with a towel and as she helped Thea stand, wrapped it around her body tightly. It looked like second nature to her, though considering she had a child to bathe, it probably was.

"I'm going to ask Glenn because he would do this for anyone, even if they didn't ask." She told her as she stepped out of the tub and onto the plush bathmat.

"And Daryl?"

Thea paused, not quite sure how to answer. Cat had caught them kissing two nights ago, so she couldn't say it was simply because he was a friend who would help anyone. If she lied, it would be obvious to the other woman. "He makes me feel safe." She finally replied, eyes avoiding her sister's knowing glance.

"Mmhmm." Cat hummed, using a smaller towel to pat dry her hair.

Thea ignored her, choosing to sigh heavily in response and hoping that got the point across. This wasn't something she wanted to talk about right now.

"Fine. If you get them to agree, we'll go. But, I call shotgun."

* * *

Convincing Glenn was incredibly easy. He only listened to her idea before agreeing, she didn't even get the chance to actually ask him to accompany them. She knew he would have helped them before she'd come to him but hearing him agree made her love him even more. He was family, a brother, something she never would have imagined when she'd first joined the group at the prison.

She hadn't even been sure she'd stay with them for long. She'd been skeptical and afraid, but these people were good people and she cared about them deeply. She was grateful that Glenn was willing to make the journey.

Daryl was an entirely different story.

"I just want to go and see if I can figure out what happened to them." Thea argued, standing over him as he fiddled with his bike.

The archer was crouched down beside the motorcycle with a rag in one hand and a wrench in the other. He'd scoffed at her request.

"It don't matter, they either ain't there or they're dead." He retorted in a gruff voice. He wouldn't even look up at her, and she wondered if it was focus on what he was doing or if he didn't want to see her after she'd kissed him.

The previous two days, she had seen very little of him. It seemed intentional.

"I know that they're dead, Daryl. I just need to make sure they aren't walkers."

He snorted. "If you know they're dead, then why does it matter?"

"Daryl," She scoffed and shook her head incredulously. She thought back to the night at the prison when they'd talked about siblings, and about how he'd told her that his brother had died and become a walker. Daryl had been the one to put him down, and she thought perhaps he would be able to understand the need to relieve a loved one of the mindless existence as a walking corpse.

If she brought it up, though, he more than likely wouldn't take it well.

"It _does_ matter. If they are walkers, I need to take care of them. I can't stand the idea of them walking around forever like that." Thea hoped he would hear the urgency in her voice, that he would remember Merle and what it felt like to see a loved one like that.

He rose to his feet slowly, eyes finally studying her face. There was something on his face that she didn't recognize, or maybe did but didn't want to think about. For now, she had something else to worry over.

"Nah." He said after a moment, shaking his head once. Short, to the point.

It sparked a tiny shred of frustration within her. "Why not?"

Daryl scoffed like it was obvious and motioned towards her injured shoulder with the wrench he held. "You just go shot, you ain't going anywhere. Not right now."

Thea glowered at him, at the notion that he had any say in what she did. "I'm _going_ ," she countered. "Whether you're there or not, Cat and I are going to Richmond. We already have Glenn, we can probably get Aaron—"

"—You could go any other damn time. Not right after you almost died."

She didn't know if it was concern that had him protesting the trip or if he was just displeased with her since she'd kissed him, but one thing was for sure and it was that he didn't control her actions. And she didn't need to be babied.

Letting out an annoyed sound, she shook her head and turned around, walked back toward the clinic.

* * *

The original plan had been to leave Hank with Aaron and Eric, but with Daryl refusing to help Aaron had been more than willing to take his place. The next morning, Cat left her son with Eric while Aaron pulled a car around to the front gate for them.

As Thea tossed her backpack, axe handle sticking out of the top like old times, into the floor behind her passenger's seat, Tobin was pulling open the first section of the gate. As the tarp covered fence was pulled back, a walker snarled and stuck its arms through the gaps in the gate. It reached wildly for Tobin as he stopped to pull the knife off his belt, grimacing at the slimy blood that dripped from its teeth. Its face was pressed against the bars as if it might be able to squeeze through like a cat and take a bite of those inside the walls. A notion that was quickly squashed as Tobin drove his knife into its forehead.

"Hey!"

A displeased shout came from behind her and she pulled her attention from the gate to find the culprit. Daryl was drawing close, a scowl on his face and his crossbow on his back. He didn't look happy to see her at the front gates with a car.

"Thought the doc said you needed rest." He growled as he came to a stop by the trunk.

Over his shoulder, Thea could see Glenn and Aaron approaching, Cat trailing just a few feet behind them. She rolled her eyes at Daryl and adjusted the strap on her sling. "I'm a doctor, Daryl, I think I'll be okay."

Glenn opened the driver's door and tossed his pack into the seat before resting his arms on the roof and watching the two of them curiously. Cat and Aaron seemed to be unsure of what to actually do as they stood on the same side of the car as Glenn and exchanged glances.

"Is there a problem?" Cat finally asked.

Daryl nodded. "Yeah, you ain't goin'. She just got shot, you have a kid, he's got one on the way—"

Thea interrupted him. "—Well, I can't exactly go alone. And I _am_ going, so you can quit trying to stop me."

"And they're my parents, too!" Cat added.

Aaron put a hand up. "I have no children and I'm in perfect physical health, so…" He trailed off with a shrug, offering Thea a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, well, you got someone who cares about you here. Y'all willing to say goodbye to all of that just go to an empty house?" Daryl turned to Thea. "They ain't there. Even if they are, they ain't."

She understood that, but this was something she had to do and the only way he'd be able to stop her was if he physically restrained her; something told her that wasn't in his playbook.

"I know that, Daryl," She said softly, tired of the back-and-forth. "But I'm going."

The archer stared at her. It was clear he wanted to continue to protest, but she was stubborn enough to do this all day. So was he. "Guess I am, too, then."

"Wait, what?"

Before Thea could say much else, Daryl rounded the car and stood by the open driver's door. He pointed up the street towards the houses. "Go home." He told Glenn, his voice making it clear that this was not up for discussion.

After a moment of irritation, Glenn sent Thea a small smile before he took his leave.

Thea's eyes met Daryl's over the hood of the car and she could see that he was still irritated with her. She wondered if his decision to take Glenn's place came from letting Glenn stay safe for his unborn child's sake, or if he did it because she'd been so stubborn and refused to budge. Maybe if he'd stayed behind, he would have worried about all of them the whole time they were gone, and he didn't want to do that?

Either way, Thea knew that this trip was going to be a long one and not just because Richmond was a little over two hours away.

* * *

Thea's shoulder started throbbing thirty minutes into the trip and she remembered that she'd only taken a couple of pills from the clinic. She hadn't wanted to take the whole bottle in case someone else might need them, but there was no way she was going to make the drive to Richmond without help. She hadn't anticipated needing medicine so soon though, and she made no move to reach for her bag; if she could hold off and time it just right, she could make it back to Alexandria without using all of her pills.

It would be easier said than done, given how much pain she was starting to feel. Hiding it from the others would be hard, too.

She was sitting in the passenger seat, Aaron behind her and Cat behind Daryl, and she felt like she was more likely to be caught where she was instead of the back seat. Turning her face to the window, she tried to school her expression; at least if she ended up grimacing, no one would be able to see her face.

* * *

The pain was one thing, unbearable as it was it was nothing compared to the awkward silence of the car. it was obvious that Daryl was not happy about the situation, but none of them wanted to bring it up. And part of her knew that his behavior had something to do with the kiss, she just _knew_ it. It frustrated her that she had messed up things by kissing him, but at the same time he had kissed her back for a second before Cat had interrupted things.

"This is the on-ramp here." Aaron spoke up from the back.

Thea felt bad that he was basically back-seat-driving, but they had discussed which seat would be most comfortable for her; the passenger's seat allowed her to rest her left elbow on the center console and relieve some of the pressure put on her shoulder from the sling. Not that it mattered how much pressure the sling was putting on her, considering the throbbing that was coursing through her shoulder and down her arm and into her chest. It was high time she took one of the pills she'd brought.

Just as she was considering reaching down to grab her pack, a walker smacked against the right side of the front bumper. It bounced off the hood and tumbled down into the ditch, leaving a smear of rotten blood in its wake. Thea had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed it approaching the car, the noise it made startled her and caused her to jump in her seat, which jostled her shoulder painfully.

Hissing, she gingerly grasped her shoulder and gritted her teeth, resting her head back against the seat and squeezing her eyes shut.

"You okay?" Cat asked from the back, her hand coming to rest against Thea's elbow.

She didn't trust her voice just yet. "Mmhmm," She hummed instead.

There was a rustling before the rattle of a pill bottle echoed through the car. Cat's hand appeared between the front seats with a large white bottle. "Here, I brought these."

Thea frowned and reached around to grab the bottle, turning it to read the label. _Acetaminophen._

"Cat. You took the Tylenol from the clinic?" she asked, surprise masking the pain in her voice.

Her sister scoffed. "Well, yeah, you needed it if you were gonna make this trip."

"And what if someone in Alexandria ends up needing it?"

"Relax, there were two bottles in the cabinet. It's okay."

She shook her head slowly. Even with two bottles, taking one could end up hurting them in the end. What if something happened and they lost the bottle? Or the foursome never made it home and the Alexandrians were left an entire bottle short of medicine? Thea appreciated the sentiment, but Cat's decision had been skewed.

It was too late to turn around and return the bottle, however, so Thea simply sighed and opened it, dispersing two capsules into her hand. She swallowed them down with a few sips of her water before resting her head back against the headrest, closing her eyes and praying the pills would kick in soon.

* * *

 _There's something behind her and she's not quite sure what it is. Thea can hear the footsteps, but it was difficult to determine whether or not it was a dead one or a person; her money was on the former, but there was always the off-chance that a living person was beginning to cross her path. It wouldn't be entirely uncommon to think that another survivor would wander through the same area she was but given that people were now the minority population…it did raise the hairs on the back of her neck to imagine that someone might be following her._

 _Funny, how some things never changed. In the old world, a woman walking alone down the street might feel weary about someone possibly following her; it didn't matter whether or not the old world was still standing, things stayed the same._

 _Thea's hand was gripping her handle of her ax tightly in anticipation as she strained her ears to listen as she moved. If she stopped, she feared that someone who might be following her would realize she was suspicious. She refused to do what so many had done in movies and turn around, calling out to see if anyone was around. If Cat ever heard she'd done it, she'd laugh in her face._

 _Taking in a deep breath of air, she decided to speed up her pace until she was sure that she had lost them. When she had put a significant amount of space between herself and whoever or whatever was behind her, she used her ax to aid in climbing a tree, hooking the head over limbs and using it to pull herself further up. She wasn't quite sure what she intended on doing once she was high enough, but it would probably come down to what she decided in the moment, whether that be letting the stalker pass her by or getting the jump on them._

 _It didn't take long for her ears to pick up on the sound of dry leaves crunching under boots. The steps were more deliberate now and she knew right away that they belonged to a living, breathing human being. Thea pressed herself against the trunk of the tree and craned her head around to peer down at the owner of the boots._

 _A man who appeared to be in his late thirties or early forties came into view. He carried a large and intimidating looking rifle balanced in muscular arms encased in a too-tight flannel shirt. His hairline was receding into a widow's peak and was pulled into a low ponytail. He didn't look too friendly, which had Thea immediately deciding to stay hidden in the tree and let him pass; this wasn't the type of person she was interested in interacting with._

 _Perhaps deciding was her mistake._

 _Without any indication or warning, the man stopped and raised the barrel of his gun upwards, pointing it directly at her hiding spot. She gasped and had enough time to pull herself around the trunk as a shot was fired, a bullet sinking into the trunk where she'd been moments before. She clung to the tree in a panic, eyes wide and unbelieving of the fact that he had managed to spot her._ How _had he managed to spot her all the way up in the tree?_

" _Get down here!" He exclaimed in a frightening tone that made her flinch._

 _What was she supposed to do? Was she supposed to climb down the tree and just allow him to shoot her? Or worse? Whatever he had in mind couldn't be good considering he'd already tried forcefully bringing her down to the ground with a bullet._

 _He wasn't a very patient man. "I_ said _get down here! Now!"_

 _With only a moment's hesitation and knowing that she'd gotten herself into a literal trap, Thea eased herself down the tree the same way she climbed it. As she moved, she contemplated what to do when her feet hit the ground. For all she knew, this man could try to take what little she had on her back or attack her, possibly even kill her since he clearly had no aversions to shooting at her._

 _Running seemed like the best option. If she stayed and tried to talk it out there was a high chance of it not going her way. No. She'd run._

" _Nice and easy there, sweetheart."_

 _The nicknamed sealed it. The second she landed on the ground she took off running in the direction she'd come, dodging behind a tree as he fired another shot at her. She tried her best not to cry out in surprise as the bullet struck the base of the tree and kept racing away from the stranger. She was smart enough to know that she needed to run in a zig-zag to keep from getting hit and did her best to duck behind trees as she moved._

" _Get back here!" She heard the man shout as he began to chase after her._

 _Who the hell was this guy? Thea wasn't going to stop to find out. She could hear the creek up ahead she'd refilled her bottle in not long before she realized she was being followed and veered in that direction hoping if she could cross it he would lose her trail._

 _The ground began to slope and her feet slid in the loose soil but she wouldn't stop until she knew she was safe. She could still hear him behind her, angrily shouting at her to stop running, and she couldn't help but imagine that he was also alerting any of the dead in the area to both their presences. Sticking around to have them greet her was not on her list of things to do._

 _Gripping her ax tightly so she wouldn't lose it, she slid the rest of the way down the embankment and landed in the water with a splash. Her pants were soaked up to her knees and the water was icy cold, but she knew that the stranger must have heard the splash so stopping for longer than the second it took to regain her balance was not an option._

 _She'd made it halfway across the creek when suddenly she reached a drop-off. With a stunned gasp, she dropped into the hole and beneath the water. She was only beneath the surface for a moment before popping up and coughing up the water she'd accidentally inhaled when she'd went under. She sputtered but began to swim across the creek until her feet hit the mud on the other side of the drop-off. Once she'd regained her footing, she waded out of the water and resumed running, her water heavy clothes slowing her pace._

 _She didn't know what had this guy so interested in her that he was willing to chase her down, but she definitely didn't want to stick around to find out. Her boots made a gross squishing noise with each step and she just hoped it wasn't loud enough for him to hear. Just as she broke through the tree line, she heard a splash indicating that the man had followed her path into the water._

 _Cursing, she picked up the pace until she saw a large white farmhouse ahead. It was beautiful with a wrap-around porch and two stories, though it looked as if no one had been home for a long while. There were dozens of the dead littering the large yard, all permanently dead, and what appeared to be the burned remnants of a barn; the wooden frame had collapsed and lay in ashes that had once been the walls and roof of the building. Something bad had happened here, which had probably been the reason the farm had been vacated._

 _Thea's first instinct was to go for the house, but she knew that it was the first place he would look. Instead, she raced towards what remained of the barn. She landed on her knees in the ashes, pulling off her backpack and burying it under the cinders along with her ax. She coated her hands in it and rubbed them over her face and neck to camouflage herself. Thea began pushing the mounds of ash aside to create a space to lay in and she could hear the trees rustling from the direction she'd come in._

" _Shit." She hissed quietly to herself before laying down and quickly covering herself as best she could. She held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping the ruse would work._

 _Heavy footfalls approached the spot she was hiding but they didn't pause to look at the remnants of the barn, instead racing by to continue towards the farmhouse. Just as she suspected. She waited a few moments before quietly releasing the breath she was holding and lifting her head to watch the man disappear inside the house. She sprung up quickly, grabbed her bag and ax, and took off in the direction she'd come with hopes of washing off in the creek._

* * *

Thea was snapped out of sleep by the car coming to an abrupt stop. She gritted her teeth together as the sudden shift forward caused the stitches in her shoulder to pinch her skin.

"We're here." Daryl's gruff voice announced from the driver's seat.

Sure enough, she could see that they were on the street outside her parents' house. It had been so long since she'd been here and up until this moment she'd been under the impression that she would never see it again. The two-story house looked the same, except for the unruly lawn and what looked like soot smeared across the white door of the garage.

"It's so quiet." Cat commented as she opened her door and stepped out on the street, the others doing the same. "Kind of creepy."

Thea's eyes remained focused on the front door of the house. It was closed, which could possibly mean two things: her parents had left and locked the door, or her parents had never made it out of the house. While she was hoping for the former, she also wouldn't mind finding them inside so that she could have closure to the whole vision she'd had.

"You two stay here, we'll go in and clear the place." Daryl instructed, motioning for Aaron to follow him.

She wanted to argue, but knew it was pointless considering she was injured and Cat was not as experienced in the art of killing walkers as the rest of them. The front door wasn't locked, which was a little disconcerting, and the men disappeared inside with ease.

Cat appeared at her side, leaning back against the car with her arms crossed. "What do you think we're gonna find in there?" she wondered quietly, eyes boring into the house as well.

Thea shook her head. "I don't know. Answers, hopefully."

Her sister was silent for a moment before sighing. "I used to imagine coming back here and finding Kyle. That he'd made it here and was waiting for me this whole time. Truth be told…I don't even know if he made it off campus that day."

"He did. I'm sure he's out there somewhere." Thea reassured her, reaching out to put a hand on Cat's arm. If she was being honest, she had no clue what happened to her brother-in-law or if he was still alive. It was impossible to know until they actually saw him in front of them, alive or dead or undead.

Aaron was on the porch again and he waved an arm as if to usher them inside. "It's clear." He called.

Cat exhaled a shaky breath. "That means they're gone." She whispered, walking quickly up the sidewalk and into the house before Thea had so much as taken a breath to respond.

The house was clear, but maybe there would be clues to point them in the right direction, to tell them where their parents had ended up.

Stepping inside brought up a whirlwind of emotions. It didn't seem like much had changed, even with a few pieces of furniture knocked over and clear evidence of ransacking. This was still a place she'd call home forever, despite having been uprooted from her old life so violently. Cat was looking over photos on the mantle while Aaron was checking the kitchen cupboards for any remaining food. She didn't know where Daryl was, but thought she might have seen movement in the backyard to indicate he was outside; probably still pissed at her.

Without thinking about it, Thea's feet took her up the stairs like second nature. She wandered down the hall towards her parents' bedroom slowly, as if she was afraid of what she might find there. Would there be signs of a struggle or the bodies of her parents? Or nothing at all to help her figure out what happened to them? The floorboard beneath her right foot creaked and she paused, glancing down at it with a small smile. It had creaked since the day they'd moved in when she was a teenager. She'd tried sneaking out once and it had given her away, but instead of being mad her parents had let her go out anyways. It was weird that one single floorboard had enough memories tied to it that she felt her eyes welling up.

Wiping her eyes quickly, she stepped over the board so she wouldn't have to hear the creak again and continued down the hallway. Her parents' room was at the end of the hall, the door was ajar but not fully open, and she pushed it until it touched the bumper at the base of the wall behind it.

Their bed was made, as if they'd taken the time to keep up appearances before vacating the premises. The drawers, however, had been ransacked. The jewelry box that once held her mother's favorite accessories was tipped on its side on the dresser and emptied. It was upsetting to see their things this way, but she knew it was just the way things were now; hopefully her parents were long gone before any of this happened.

The large mirror that usually sat on top of the dresser was laying un-shattered in the floor by the foot of the bed, face up. It almost looked as if it had been placed there intentionally, but that didn't make any sense. If it had fallen, though, it surely would have shattered and it would have landed face down.

Stepping over the mirror to stand on the other side of the bed, she leaned down and gripped the right-hand side of the frame with her only working arm. As she began to lift the mirror, it tilted until there was a perfect reflection of what was beneath the bed, and Thea was met with the grimy face of a strange man.

Gasping, she dropped the mirror and straightened up. The man had seen her see him, though, and he began to slide out from beneath the bed. Thea's hand reached around to grab the gun she'd tucked into the back of her waistband but before she could aim it he was on her. He threw his weight against her and sent them both crashing into the bookcase that was against the wall beside the dresser. The shelves collapsed from the blow and all the books and knick-knacks went crashing to the floor, but not before a shooting pain coursed through her injured shoulder and down her arm.

Thea tried her best not to scream in agony. She shoved the man off of her with her good arm and raised the gun, squeezing the trigger just as he grasped her wrist and yanked her towards him. The bullet hit the wall behind him and he twisted her wrist painfully until she dropped the gun, while his other hand came up and grasped the back of her neck. Releasing her wrist seemed like a dumb move until he used his strength to throw her face down to the floor, her left cheek landed on the mirror hard enough to crack the glass and she hissed as she felt it cut into her just slightly.

There was an old telephone that had been purely for decoration on one of the bookshelves and suddenly the cord was around her neck and cutting off her airway instantly. The man's full weight was on her as he laid over her, his body holding her down so he could use both arms to pull the cord tighter. Thea let out an airless gasp, but her left arm was pinned beneath her and useless in its sling. She attempted to claw at the cord with her right hand, but her nails only scratched the tender flesh of her neck.

She couldn't help but wonder how the others hadn't at least heard the gunshot and come to help her.

As she struggled for air, she gave up trying to get the cord off her neck and reached back to scratch at the man's eyes or any other part of his face she could get ahold of. It didn't seem to faze him.

She was starting to see spots now, and she knew she needed to think fast if she wanted to get out of this situation alive. Reaching down and unstrapping the knife on her thigh, she directed her eyes to the mirror beneath her. The man's face was snarling and sadistic, clearly not the face of a man who would show her or anyone else any mercy. She lifted the knife over her head and watched in the mirror, hoping her aim wouldn't be thrown off by the reverse of the reflection in the mirror, before thrusting the blade into the side of the man's neck.

He let out a sputtering gurgle as warm blood gushed from the wound, which caused it to flow down over her own neck and lower jaw and pool on the glass. She had hoped that putting a gaping wound in his neck would cause him to lesson his hold on the cord, but it didn't seem to work. As he bled out on top of her, black spots began to cloud her vision.

"THEA!" Cat's voice came from the hall, followed by three sets of feet racing towards the back bedroom.

In the mirror she vaguely registered Daryl grabbing the now deceased man's shoulders and yanking him off of her. The cord loosened around her neck, but the pressure didn't disappear completely. Cat kneeled beside her and pulled her upright, grabbing the cord and unwrapping it from her neck.

Oxygen flooded her brain slowly as she inhaled with a wheeze and it made her head spin so badly she had to lean against her sister weakly for support.

"Thea, oh, my god." Cat gasped, brushing the hair that had fallen out of Thea's ponytail out of her face in a very motherly way. "Are you okay?" The blonde's voice cracked with worry.

Thea lifted her hand to lightly grasp her throat as she heaved in air. Her neck was slick with blood, but it was something she'd worry about once the room stopped spinning.

Aaron moved the mirror out of the way and crouched in front of the two women. "Where did he come from?" He asked softly as he grabbed a shirt from the bottom drawer of the dresser. He reached out and wiped at the blood on her chin before moving down to gingerly rub what was coating her neck.

"Un—" She cleared her throat with a wince. "Under the bed." Her voice sounded like she'd gargled glass.

There was a sickening squelch behind them and Thea glanced back as Daryl pulled his knife from the back of her attacker's head. "Must have been up here when we started calling for walkers. Hid under the bed to wait us out." He grumbled, wiping his knife on the man's pants before putting it away.

Thea sighed, finally able to look around without feeling like she'd just spent an entire day on the spinning tea cups ride at Disney World. "What took you guys so long?" She asked.

Aaron, who had wiped most of her neck clean and was checking out the damage there from the cord, glanced behind her at Cat with a suddenly sad expression. "We found your parents."

A feeling of dread washed over her.

* * *

Their parents were lying face down in the grass by the furthest fence in the backyard. Their hands were still clasped together tightly despite the fact that both had been decomposing for a while now. The worst of it was that the killing blow appeared to be to the back of their heads: twin gunshot wounds. Someone had put them on their knees and shot them in the back of the head, point blank.

Thea's hand covered her mouth as her vision clouded with tears. Of all the scenarios she'd blown through on the drive to Richmond, she never imagined they'd find her parents executed in their own backyard. And for what? The house? The food inside? Was there a reason it happened or had they just encountered people of the worst sort, like the Terminites or the Governor?

Her already sore throat tightened as she fought to hold in her sobs, but it was useless. She turned away and quickly made her way back towards the house, fully intending on hiding in the downstairs bathroom and crying as hard as she could; she didn't want to do it in front of the others.

She only made it as far as the back porch before her shoulders shook with her sobs and she stumbled inside, resting against the small table by the patio doors for a moment as she cried. Her parents were gone, they were dead, but not just dead…they'd been executed. Murdered. Even though her dream had basically told her that they were gone, she hadn't anticipated seeing them like that.

But they didn't deserve to lay face down in the grass for the rest of eternity, they deserved a proper burial. Despite the tears soaking her cheeks, she found the strength to will her uneasy legs to carry her towards the door that led to the garage. Opening the door, she was met with pitch black. The garage had always been the same, everything put in the same spot due to her father's OCD, but she didn't particularly like the idea of walking into the dark room given the current state of the world; that and the fact that she'd already been attacked once in this house.

Before she could so much as turn to locate a flashlight, a beam of light illuminated the area of the garage directly across from the door. She flinched in surprise and turned, finding Daryl standing behind her with his flashlight raised. His eyes flickered over her tear-streaked face for a moment and it looked as if he might say something, but he didn't. She wasn't sure what to make of the look in his face.

"There are shovels in the back corner," She told him in a raspy whisper, not trusting her voice at full volume.

He gave her a single nod before stepping around her, his hand lingering at her elbow for a moment before he disappeared into the garage. She leaned back against the wall and stared at the floor as she listened to him moving a few things around for a moment. Before long the beam of his flashlight alerted her that he was returning and he stepped back into the house with two shovels in the hand not holding his torch.

Thea wiped her cheeks before reaching out for one of the shovels, but he shook his head.

"Nah, I got it." He told her, stepping past her again and heading for the backyard.

She wasn't sure how to take his change in mood; he'd been avoiding her after the kiss and then irritated with her for taking this trip, but now he seemed to have pushed all that aside. Perhaps it was just because they'd found her parents killed in such a violent way, or maybe he wasn't mad at her anymore. It was a mystery she'd have to solve later when she wasn't grieving.

* * *

It didn't take long for Aaron and Daryl to dig a grave big enough to bury the Ellis parents together. Thea and Cat stood together, the younger sibling's head resting on Thea's right shoulder as they both cried silently, watching their friends gently place their parents in the ground. Thea felt a tiny bit of relief knowing they would be given a proper burial, but it didn't do much to ease the feelings coursing through her regarding the manner of her parents' deaths.

Once the grave was filled in, Cat was adamant that she still wanted to take a look around the house before they left. Thea wasn't sure how much there would be left to take in way of supplies, but it couldn't hurt to look. Aaron returned to the kitchen to look through the cupboards and pantry while Cat looked around upstairs, but Thea couldn't really bring herself to ransack her parents' house.

Stepping out onto the front porch, she was immediately hit with the smell of cigarette smoke. The porch had a small little nook on the left side that had a small metal table with chairs; it wasn't uncommon to find one of the Ellis family enjoying coffee there in the mornings. She rounded the corner to find Daryl seated in one of the chairs and she had to admit that it was a strange clashing of worlds to see him smoking on the porch of her former home.

"Got another one?" She asked, motioning to his cigarette as she sat in the empty chair next to his.

Instead of reaching into his pocket for a pack, he took a drag off the one he held before offering it to her. She'd shared cigarettes with him before, and considering they'd kissed she didn't mind sharing another. Accepting the cig from him, she took a long pull on it and sighed as the nicotine flooded her brain.

They were silent for a minute of two before she inhaled slowly. "Thank you for burying them." She said quietly, returning the cigarette without looking at him.

He was quiet as he smoked and didn't appear to have a response in mind just yet, so Thea continued.

"Especially since I'm pretty sure you're angry with me right now."

That seemed to gain his attention. "You think I'm angry?" he asked as if he didn't know what she was talking about.

Thea shrugged her good shoulder. "You said it yourself that I shouldn't have taken this trip, and yet I ignored you. And I tried to drag Glenn into it despite the fact that Maggie is pregnant, which you clearly weren't happy about." She paused for a moment before adding: "…and I did _kiss_ you."

Again, he was quiet, but this time she could see the cogs turning in his head. "You think that made me mad?" He finally wondered.

She scoffed. "I don't know…but you've definitely been avoiding me ever since. I had to hunt you down to ask you to come with us today."

The silence between his responses was deafening and made her wonder if he was really intending on replying or not. She needed him to just say whatever he was going to say and get it over with; the tension was too agonizing.

"I ain't mad."

The way he said it implied that there was something else he was feeling, but it wasn't likely that he would tell her. Still, she wondered why he'd chosen to avoid her after the kiss instead of pretending it had never happened if that was what he desired. Or perhaps she had made things awkward between them now and he didn't want to be around her anymore. She found herself hoping that she hadn't ruined things between them.

"I don't know, Daryl," She sighed softly, adjusting her arm in the sling as her shoulder began to ache. Getting thrown into the bookshelf upstairs hadn't helped it one bit. "You _are_ kind of hard to read sometimes."

He tossed the cigarette onto the lawn. "This really what you want to talk about after what just happened in there?" He asked, head inclining towards the house.

She knew he was referring to her parents, but the last thing she wanted to do right now was think or talk about that; she just wanted it to disappear from her memory completely. "It's better than talking about how we found my parents executed, yeah."

"I'm sorry." He said suddenly, and she knew he wasn't going to drop the subject of her parents.

Thea didn't know why he was apologizing if she was being honest. Their deaths had nothing to do with him, and yet the look on his face was almost guilty. Perhaps he was apologizing for the way things had turned out? Finding her mother and father face down with twin gunshot wounds to the backs of their heads had been completely unexpected; Daryl feeling sorry for her having to see that was highly probably. On the other hand, he had never really been one to feel sorry for people or pity them. He might be sorry that they'd journeyed this far for nothing but heartbreak, or possibly that he had told her that they weren't going to be here to begin with.

Regardless, she didn't blame him for any of it. She didn't want him apologizing to her for anything.

She shook her head slowly, eyes fixated on the table. "I knew they were dead. I had this gut feeling, but I _had_ to see for myself. _I'm_ the one who suggested this trip, if anyone should be apologizing, it's me. I dragged you and Aaron and Cat out here for nothing."

Despite having argued the importance of this trip with her before, Daryl responded differently now. "You needed to see. You needed to know." Was all he said as he chewed on his bottom lip.

Thea nodded. "Yeah…I did."

What else could be said but that? It didn't seem likely that there was _anything_ that would make things better or take away the fact that she had driven them out for a pointless mission. All they were getting out of this was grief and whatever souvenirs Cat wished to take back to Alexandria, pictures and the like.

"We should head back soon." She eventually said, standing with the intentions of going back inside. When she rose, however, she was hit with a dizzy spell that had her reaching out for the table for support. She closed her eyes to try and stop the porch from spinning, and she could hear Daryl's chair screech against the wooden deck as he stood.

A hand gripped her right elbow. "You alright?" He asked.

She tried to wave him off. "Just dizzy."

"Sit down."

It was an order and his hand added pressure to her elbow as if he was pushing her towards her chair. She didn't argue as she allowed herself to sink back into the seat she'd just vacated. Once she was seated, she hesitantly reopened her eyes and was relieved to see things had settled visually. Daryl was leaning over her and he pulled back the collar of the light jacket she was wearing to study her shoulder. The heavy sigh he gave was the only indication that things were not the way he wanted them to be.

"You're bleeding again." He informed her before pulling aside the collar of her shirt and then peeling the bandage back to take a better look. "Popped some stitches."

Thea's eyes were on his face and she wasn't all too surprised by how calm he was as he told her she had probably been bleeding since the stranger had thrown her into the bookcase upstairs.

Stepping back, he wiped his blood-wet hands on his pants. "Where's your kit?"

"In the car."

As he began to head in that direction, Cat came around the corner with a few picture frames in her hands. She spotted the two of them and her tear-stained face almost looked smug until she saw the state her sister was in. Daryl said nothing to her as he left them alone and Cat placed the pictures on the table with a concerned, furrowed brow.

"Did you rip out a stitch?" She asked, peeking under Thea's shirt at the wound, to which Thea only nodded.

This whole trip had worn her out more than she'd anticipated. Then again, she had just been shot and required a blood transfusion to survive.

Daryl's boots thumping on the wood alerted them to his return and he set the kit on the table near Cat, who immediately opened it without having to be asked. It was an odd thing to see them working together so well, and Thea eyed the two of them for a moment as Cat grabbed a few things from the kit in order to take care of the doctor's shoulder. She found herself wondering what they thought of each other, not having interacted much since the prison group had joined the Alexandrians.

Did Daryl think that Cat was another one of the weak Alexandrians who wouldn't survive very long outside the walls or did he have a different opinion on her since she was Thea's sister?

And what did Cat think of Daryl? Physically, he could be intimidating; he didn't exactly care about appearances and was fine walking around covered in dirt and grime despite the fact that they had working showers, with his hair falling into his face and the way he squinted at people in thought. Not to mention the fact that he almost never went anywhere without his trusty crossbow, and he wasn't afraid to speak his mind. Thea just hoped that Cat hadn't let her first impression of him be the only impression of him.

When Thea had met him for the first time, he'd shot an arrow at her head and chased after her. Things had been rough then and she hadn't known who to trust, and yet here she was with all of her trust in Daryl Dixon and all her faith, too. She wanted Cat to be able to see the sides of Daryl that _she_ did but wasn't sure if the opportunity would ever present itself. Neither one of them seemed too concerned with getting to know each other.

Not that it mattered. In a world like the one they lived in now, the only thing that mattered was surviving and aligning with the people that could help ensure survival. Daryl was someone Thea could definitely depend on, and she got the feeling that was the only thing Cat really cared about.

* * *

It was dark by the time they'd made it back to Alexandria. Thea's arm was throbbing something awful and had been for the past thirty minutes, but the thought of taking more Tylenol made her nauseous, so she hadn't said anything to the others. She gritted her teeth as she got out of the car, trying her best not to show how much pain she was truly in and worry anyone around.

Rick and Michonne were on watch and the former sent a wave in their direction before focusing his attention back on the road outside the gates.

"Hey, how did it go?" She heard Glenn's voice ask before she saw him.

He was approaching from behind her and as she turned to answer him she saw his face drop at the sight of the dried blood on her neck, face, and shirt. "You okay?" he asked, worry evident in his voice and his furrowed brow.

Thea glanced down at her shirt for a moment before nodding solemnly. "Yeah, just had a run in with a squatter." She informed him. Though she answered in a rather nonchalant way, she felt the weight of her actions. She wasn't sure what the intentions of the man she'd killed had been. Part of her knew she'd made the decision that would keep her alive, but perhaps that was what he had been doing, too. If the squatter had been simply afraid and trying to defend herself, weren't they the same? She wanted to not feel guilty about his death, but it was easier said than done.

Glenn seemed to understand based on the look on his face. She knew that he hadn't killed a living person until the raid on Negan's compound that had resulted in her gunshot wound, and she could see that the things he'd done there were weighing on him, too. Guilt was a heavy burden to bear.

"And your parents?" he wondered.

Cat passed between them with the picture frames clutched close to her chest and didn't say a word as she began to head in the direction of Aaron and Eric's house. Thea watched her go for a moment before slowly meeting the Korean man's eyes. "They're dead." She said emotionlessly, having done plenty of crying before they'd made it back to Alexandria.

She didn't wait for his response before stepping past him and trekking towards the clinic. She needed to have Denise check her shoulder again just to be safe, and she needed to be with someone who seemed to know when to not ask about things. She knew Denise had a background in psychology, but the woman was perceptive enough to know when to hold off on what could be a potential therapy session; Thea appreciated that as she could feel the exhaustion from the day's events creeping into her bones.

And if she felt a pair of eyes following her back to the clinic, she didn't need to turn around to know who they belonged to.

* * *

 **A/N: So many questions raised by this chapter. Who was the man who was squatting in Thea's parents' house? And who murdered her parents? How long will it take Daryl and Thea to just fess up about their feelings, huh? Also, I hope you guys enjoyed the nice little Easter egg I put in the flashback, the Greene family farm! I thought it would be interesting to have Thea end up in an area that the others had been in before, and I always wondered what the farm turned to after they'd left.**


	35. Storm Warning

**A/N: Here's the next chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it, and I hope you're ready for what's to come!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

Six days after the eventful trip to Richmond, Thea walked into the clinic to get her bandages changed and was met with Denise's worried face. She scanned the room and noticed the cabinets open, the shelves looking picked clean.

"How low are we?" Thea asked slowly, putting things together pretty quickly.

The bespectacled doctor sighed heavily, shutting the drawer she had been rifling through. "We've got maybe a few days, but with your shoulder and Mr. Robinson's back it could be less."

Thea nodded and trailed her eyes around the room once more. "Probably need to go on a run soon."

"Who's going on a run?" Rosita asked as she entered the clinic, a familiar archer following her.

He sent Thea a small glare, shaking his head. "Not you." He said in a voice that told her there was no room for arguing.

"I wasn't planning on it." Thea told him with a roll of her eyes.

Rosita, who glanced between the two of them with a smirk on her face, finally turned her attention to Denise. "Why do we need to go on a run?"

As the blonde began to explain the situation with the meds, Thea moved to check out how much gauze was available. She needed to change her bandages but didn't want to use it all up if they were going to run out. She'd have to start rationing better until they found more supplies.

"After I got out of DC, I just drove." Denise was explaining as Thea turned back to the group. "I remember seeing it right when I realized I had no idea where I was going."

There was a map on the table in front of them, how it had come to be there unknown. Thea stepped closer and noticed a red circle Denise had drawn.

"Edison's Apothecary and Boutique. It's just this little gift shop in a strip mall, but if it's really an apothecary, they had drugs."

Daryl's face was furrowed in thought, the way Thea had seen many times; it was directed her way more times than she could count so it was an expression she had become quite familiar with.

"How do you know they still got 'em?" He asked, eyes flickering over the map as he appeared to be memorizing the location of the apothecary, possibly studying the different routes to get there.

Denise shook her head with a shrug, her eyes glancing back at Rosita. "It isn't that far. I just wanna check. And you and Rosita aren't out scavenging or pulling shifts."

After a moment of hesitation, Daryl shrugged and nodded. "We'll go."

That wasn't good enough for the blonde. "I wanted to check. I just wanted to help." She nodded, clearly wanting to go with them on the run.

Thea wasn't sure how many times Denise had been beyond the walls, or how long she'd been on the road before making it to Alexandria, but she hadn't seen the blonde woman leave since the prison group had arrived. Perhaps she was getting antsy?

"How much time you spend out there?" Daryl was asking, voicing Thea's thoughts.

"None."

Daryl grunted. "Forget it."

There was a stubborn look on Denise's face. "I can ID the meds. I know how to use a machete now. I've seen roamers up close. I'm ready."

While Thea agreed that it would be a good idea for someone who knew what to look for to be out there, she also knew that they were going through doctors pretty fast and they should probably try to keep the only two they had safe. Then again, _she_ had argued enough times about being allowed outside the walls despite her importance to the group, so who was she to deny Denise that right?

"You good with this?" Daryl asked Rosita.

That earned an eye roll from the Latina. "No."

Denise sighed. "I'll go alone if I have to."

"You'll die alone." Daryl argued, causing Thea to frown at the dark turn it took.

Rosita was nodding in agreement, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth.

Denise stood her ground. "I'm asking _you_ to make sure I don't."

The other two in the room stared at each other, exchanging a silent conversation that had Thea wondering just what they were thinking. Finally, Rosita placed a hand on her chest and raised an eyebrow. "I'm not babysitting her by myself." She told him.

Knowing Daryl had no choice but to go with them, Denise and Rosita gave him identical smug looks and Thea couldn't help but snicker, which earned another glare from the archer.

"Looks like you guys are going on a run." She commented, smirking at him.

* * *

Although she wanted to try and ration it, Thea had reluctantly allowed Denise to change the bandage on her shoulder before the trio left for their run to the apothecary in an old pickup truck that made far too many concerning sounds for her liking. She tried to ignore the nagging feeling of worry in her gut and focused on taking an inventory of just what was left in the clinic.

She could feel her shoulder aching considerably, but the possibility that the run would be a bust was too high and she didn't want to take any medicine that might be needed later. And if the run went badly in _another_ way, they might need them for an emergency situation; she could fight through the pain for a bit, wait it out for it to get unbearable.

Focusing her mind seemed to help just a bit and she forced herself to keep busy with the task at hand, scribbling down how many pills were left in a bottle of Tylenol before returning it to the shelf. The emptiness of the shelves was just another reminder of the way things were now. Eventually, every apothecary or pharmacy or gas station would be picked clean and there would be nothing left. One day, they'd have to return to the way things were before the invention of modern medicine and that was something that Thea had been thinking about for a long time. She had considered keeping an eye out for books about medieval medicine or medical techniques from third world countries simply to have a bit more education on the way she'd have to eventually do things.

She made a small note on the corner of the notebook page to bring the idea up to Rick and the others.

Once she'd managed to inventory everything in the clinic twice, wanting the number to be correct, she sighed heavily and sank down onto one of the barstools at the kitchen island. She ran a hand over her face tiredly, a pained whimper leaving her lips as her shoulder reminded her that she'd been without pain relievers for a few hours too long now. Her hand was shaking as she tucked her hair behind her ear and she knew it was time to finally grab some Tylenol.

Just as she stood, the clinic door burst open causing her to startle. Rosita entered first and she could see the woman was supporting a pair of legs as she stumbled into the room.

"What-?" Thea started to ask before stopping abruptly as she saw who was being carried.

Daryl and Abraham were supporting Eugene's upper body, coming in behind Rosita in a rush. The mullet-haired man was unconscious and deep crimson was blooming across the stomach of his shirt: blood.

"What happened?" Thea demanded to know, her adrenaline spiking and the pain in her shoulder temporarily forgotten.

Rosita had a snarl on her face as the trio dropped Eugene heavily on the closest bed. "Fucking Saviors." She said, her voice dripping with anger.

Thea rushed to stand beside the bed, pulling Eugene's shirt up to figure out just what she was working with. There was a bullet hole in the left side of his abdomen, blood still seeping from the wound. With one arm in a sling, she would need an extra pair of hands to aid her.

"Shit. I'm gonna need help, where's Denise?" She asked the others without glancing their way, turning to grab a pair of gloves. When she was met with only silence, she turned to face the others and froze; their faces said it all and she felt her heart sink. "Shit." She cursed again, eyes lowering to the gloves in her hand before landing on Eugene once again. She didn't have time to grieve.

"Okay," She muttered, placing the gloves on the bed and reaching up to ease the strap of her sling over her head. Her shoulder stung and protested, but she did nothing more than wince as she tossed the sling aside and started to pull on her gloves. Her eyes were starting to water and she wasn't sure if it had more to do with the new weight on her shoulder or Denise's death, but she had to put it all out of her mind for the moment.

Grabbing a pair of scissors, she cut Eugene's shirt open straight up the middle and let it hang loosely at his sides, his stomach showing that his breathing was shallow.

"Help me turn him?" She asked Abraham, who nodded silently and helped get Eugene on his side for a moment. "No exit wound…I'm gonna have to dig the bullet out." She observed as Abraham rested Eugene back onto his back.

Rosita appeared beside her with a tray of instruments she must have seen Thea and Denise gather a hundred times before; they were getting way too familiar with this type of situation. "I'll help you as much as I can, okay?" the woman told her, though the look on her face told her she would rather be out exacting whatever revenge she could.

Thea nodded, murmuring a soft thank you. The door slamming shut disrupted her thoughts and she realized that Abraham had left. She found it odd that he would leave given how close he was to the man on the bed but didn't have much time dwell on it at the moment.

Daryl, who hadn't said a single word since they'd busted into the clinic, remained silent as he moved to sit by the window. Thea knew that he liked Denise more than he ever let on and the blonde's death was probably hitting him pretty hard; Thea made a mental note to check on him when she was finished and turned back to her patient.

* * *

An hour or so later, Rosita was sitting beside a resting Eugene with her hand clasped tightly around his. Daryl was still staring out the window and Thea couldn't help but study him as she finished cleaning up the mess they'd made while operating. He looked like he was deep in thought, like more than just losing someone was on his mind. She wondered what exactly went down outside the walls, how things had escalated to the point they had. And what about the Saviors who had attacked them? What had become of them?

The door opened and Abraham returned, looking around the clinic before his eyes landed on his friend. "Rick's coming," He told them. "How is he?"

Rosita spoke up before Thea could. "Bullet just grazed him, but it's good that we got him back when we did. Antibiotics we picked up could save him from an infection. Could save his life. That's what Denise did."

Denise's hunch about the apothecary had been a good one and they'd managed to replenish their supplies for another few weeks. In the end, Denise really helped them out.

Eugene was suddenly awake, coughing as he tried to swallow on a dry throat. Thea began to fill a glass with water as Rosita leaned in close to the man.

"You here?" She asked.

Eugene's voice was faint, his throat cracking. "Present."

Rosita nodded and turned, walking away without a word. She left the clinic quickly, an angry but relieved look on her face.

"Good." Abraham spoke as she stepped closer to the other man.

Thea moved across the room and handed him the glass of water before returning to her previous spot, not wanting to interrupt what looked like a much-needed conversation.

"I was not trying to kill you. I was looking for a moment." Eugene began to explain, which only confused Thea more as she still had no clue what had gone down.

"You found it." Abe said, leaning down over Eugene.

The dark-haired man stared for a moment. "Do you apologize for questioning my skills?"

There was a small smirk on the redhead's face. "I apologize for questioning your skills." He nodded. "You know how to bite a dick, Eugene. I mean that with the utmost respect. Welcome to stage two."

Thea tried her best not to laugh, because what in the world did he mean by that? She wanted to ask, but they were having such a good moment together that she kept her mouth shut.

"Don't need to welcome me. I've been here a while."

That seemed to be enough for Daryl as he stood from the perch he'd been in for an hour now and quickly left. Thea frowned as she stared at the closed door, wishing she had taken the chance to check on him. For now, though, she desperately needed to get some Tylenol in her system and put her sling back on.

Slowly making her way across the clinic, she lifted a shaking hand to pull a bottle of pills from the shelf it rested on. It took an embarrassingly long time to open the child-proof bottle one-handed, her left arm cradled against her chest, but she was finally able to get down a couple capsules with a glass of water. The hard part would be putting her sling back on.

"Need some help?" Abraham asked as she picked the sling up from the table she'd tossed it on.

She had almost forgotten he was there, but she nodded. "That would be much appreciated." She said through gritted teeth.

The man stepped forward, taking the sling from her and gingerly helping her slip her arm back into it before securing the strap over her head. "Better?" He asked, once it was in position.

Thea felt relief as the pressure was taken off her shoulder. She thankfully hadn't busted any stitches, but having her arm hanging at her side had caused a lot of pain. "Yeah, a lot better. Thank you."

A moment of silenced passed between them before she found the courage to finally ask what had been on her mind since they'd returned with a bleeding Eugene.

"What happened out there?"

Abraham gave her a long look before sighing. "The Saviors fucked us hard, that's what happened."

The vague explanation seemed to be all he was going to give her as he turned and moved to sit with Eugene once more. Thea wanted to be frustrated with him but given the fact that he was upset she was going to let it go. She'd just have to ask Rosita or Daryl for a proper explanation.

* * *

Daryl had left Alexandria again, taking Carol with him. Thea tried not to feel upset with the fact that he hadn't spoken a word to her since they'd returned from the run. She knew that he was deeply affected by Denise's death and that he wasn't the type of person to start spilling his guts when things went terribly wrong, but she couldn't help that she _wanted_ him to talk to her. She _wanted_ to be the one to help him through this like he had helped her through some of the things she'd endured. Instead, he'd taken off with Carol, and she wasn't quite sure what he was going to do; she worried he was going after the Saviors.

Sitting on the steps of the clinic, she watched the gates impatiently as if just wishing they were back behind the safety of the walls was going to magically make them appear. She tried her hardest not to feel left out, knowing it was a ridiculous emotion to be feeling at a time like this; wanting to be _there_ for Daryl and not getting the chance to felt wrong. He had been there for her countless times, even in the most minute way, and she desperately wanted to return the favor. Despite any protesting he might have done, Daryl had liked Denise and vice versa. They'd had an odd friendship, and Thea knew that he couldn't be taking her death very well.

The ache in her shoulder had now reduced to a dull annoyance as the medicine began to kick in and she relaxed only slightly, knowing that the tension headache rolling up the back of her neck wasn't going to ease until Daryl, and yes Carol, were back behind the walls safely.

"You alright?" A voice asked, snapping her attention away from the gates.

Rick was coming down the sidewalk with one hand resting comfortably on his holstered revolver. He was squinting through the sun at her as he approached, his blue eyes shining brightly.

Thea was getting tired of being asked that question.

Instead of answering, she asked a question of her own. "Where did Daryl go?"

"He and Carol went to get Denise's body. Bring her back, give her a proper burial." He responded, eyes glancing towards the gates for just a moment before meeting hers again. He stopped on the sidewalk at the bottom of the porch steps, staring her down.

She knew he was expecting an answer to his question and she sighed softly. "I'm tired. Tired of getting close to people only to lose them. Tired of the Saviors causing trouble. Tired of being stuck in this sling." Thea trailed off, knowing if she wanted to she could continue to list things until she was blue in the face.

She doubted Rick wanted to listen to her whine that long.

"Yeah," He was agreeing with a slow nod of his head. "Me too."

They were silent for a moment before Rick nodded towards the clinic. "How's Eugene?"

Standing, Thea adjusted the strap on her sling into a more comfortable position and moved to stand on the sidewalk beside him. "He'll live. It was just a graze, but he lost a lot of blood. He'll have to rest for a day or two. You can go in if you want…I think I'm going to take a walk."

Without waiting for his reply, she turned and began heading down the street, back to the gate. Maybe if she wasn't staring at it and waiting, Daryl would get back quicker.

* * *

Somehow, she had ended up going home and taking a nap. The day had worn on long enough and she'd been in pain for a good portion of it, so a nap seemed like the perfect way to recharge. When she woke up, the sun was beginning to set; the first thing that crossed her mind was whether or not Daryl had made it back yet. Slipping her shoes back on, she headed down the hallway to his room and knocked gently against the wood. When there was no response, she twisted the knob and peeked inside: the bed was empty.

"Shit." She whispered to herself, picturing him and Carol lying dead in the dirt somewhere beyond the walls. Beyond where they could find them.

Thea's heart pounded at the idea and she knew she had to go and convince Rick to send out a team to look for the pair. She silently moved down the stairs, checking the living room for the archer before she went to the kitchen.

"Hey," Maggie greeted her from where she stood beside Glenn at the counter. There was something cooking on the stove, and Thea had the sneaking suspicion it was yet another soup.

Thea offered her a small, tired smile. "Hey. Did Daryl make it back yet?" She asked, not bothering to hide the fact that she was worried.

Maggie gave her a knowing look as Glenn appeared to hide a chuckle in a cough. "Yeah, they got back an hour or so ago. Brought back Denise's body, buried her with the others."

Thea felt a twinge of guilt that the thought of retrieving the other doctor's body had been less of a worry than Daryl's safety.

"You hungry?" Glenn asked as he pulled a few bowls down from the cabinet.

Thea shook her head as she went for the door. "I'll be back."

As her feet hit the top stair of the porch, she got a whiff of smoke and froze, turning to find Daryl sitting on the porch railing with a nearly finished cigarette hanging loosely from his lips. His eyes were cast downward, head bowed, but she could see the sorrow on his face.

Retreating back to the porch, she didn't quite know what she should do. She wasn't sure how to comfort him when she knew he was taking Denise's death extremely hard. He hadn't wanted to take her out on the run to the apothecary but he'd let her and Rosita convince him it would be okay, and she was sure that it meant he was putting the majority of the blame on himself.

"Hey," she spoke softly, taking a few tentative steps in his direction. She tried not to feel disappointed when he didn't look up at her or respond. Unsure of what else to say, she rested her hip against the railing opposite the one he sat on and watched him silently as she tried to come up with something helpful. But _what_ would be helpful in this situation? Should she leave him alone? Should she try and talk to him? Or maybe just being there and not saying a word was enough?

Something in her made her ask the question before she could stop herself. "What happened out there?"

The cigarette had burned down to the filter and when he didn't move to put it out, Thea reached out and took it from his lips before tossing it into the street. Daryl still hadn't moved.

"It was Dwight." He said suddenly, startling her out of her thoughts.

She faced him, brow furrowed as she tried to understand what he meant. Was her referring to the Dwight that had taken them hostage in the burnt forest before leaving them stranded, swiping Daryl's bike and crossbow in the process?

"Should have taken him out when I had the chance." He continued.

Thea let out a shaky breath, mind flashing back to Dwight's gun pointed in their faces and the ropes around her wrist. "He killed Denise?" she asked, as if he hadn't already said that.

He nodded. "He said he was aiming for me, but the kickback on the crossbow screwed it up."

She felt her heart falter slightly at the thought that if Dwight had gotten a bit more practice with the weapon, he'd have killed Daryl. She felt guilt flow through her when she realized that she was experiencing a tiny bit of relief that he was still here, even if it meant losing Denise. Having emotions really fucked things up.

"He's with the Saviors? He went back to them?" Again, she found herself asking questions that she already knew the answer to.

He didn't answer, knowing she already knew what he'd say. Instead, he sighed. "Should have killed him and he wouldn't have gotten the chance to shoot Denise. It's my fault."

"Daryl, no—"

He cut her off. "If she hadn't been out there, she'd still be alive. I never should have let her come with us."

Thea didn't know what to say to him. He was blaming himself, and she could sense that no amount of arguing would change his mind. Daryl had always carried the weight of their losses on his shoulders; she had seen it with Beth, she'd seen it with Zach, even Tyrese despite the fact that he hadn't been present for the events that had taken the man's life. Now, she could see him diving deeper into that hole with Denise and it broke her heart. She wanted to comfort him but knew trying to change his mind was pointless.

What _could_ she do?

Pushing herself off the railing, she slowly stepped forward. Daryl's face turned up slightly to see what she was doing, though he still looked like a kicked puppy. Reaching up with her good hand, she brushed the hair out of his face, her fingers ghosting over the skin of his forehead gently.

"I'm sorry." She whispered softly to him, feeling like the words fell a little short.

His blue eyes were staring back at her as if he expected her to have an answer for everything but she didn't. She wished she did.

Instead, she did the only thing she could think to do; although she wasn't sure if it would comfort him. She brushed his hair back and cupped his jaw, leaning forward slowly to place her lips against his lightly. He didn't pull away or flinch when she'd leaned in, which was a good sign that he didn't completely hate the idea of her kissing him. After the awkwardness that had ensued the last time she'd kissed him, she was grateful he didn't seem to want her to never touch him again.

She had intended for it to be a quick peck on the lips, but she found herself lingering with her mouth pressed against his when she felt one of his hands land gingerly on her waist. It was the only way he responded to her, he didn't press his lips back against hers or do anything else, but it was a lot better than running. She'd take it.

After a moment, she pulled back and stared at him with her brow furrowed. "I'm sorry," she repeated. "I know you don't believe it, but it's not your fault. It's the Saviors, it's Dwight." She shook her head. "You can't blame yourself, Daryl. You didn't kill him before because you didn't have a real reason to. You couldn't have known that he'd come back, or what he would do."

She hated seeing him in such a slump and wished there was something more she could do than offer him a pep talk and a kiss. Perhaps she needed to work a bit on her bedside manner.

"Just…try not to beat yourself up too much. Please." She was sure it was pointless to ask that of him, considering that Daryl was known for giving himself a hell of a beating over anything he could.

He didn't respond, not even a nod of acknowledgment, but she hadn't expected him to agree. She dropped her hand from his jaw, stepping back and trying not to feel disappointed at the loss of his hand on her waist. "Get some sleep. Doctor's orders." She instructed with a small smile, lingering for only a moment before she turned and made her way back inside for dinner.

* * *

The next morning, Thea was pulled from her sleep by the sound of heavy footfalls on the stairs. She frowned, stumbling out of her bed and pulling the door open to figure out what was going on. Maggie was following Glenn down to the first floor in a hurry, both sharing equal looks of worry on their faces.

"Hey, what's going on?" Thea asked, bare feet much quieter on the stairs than their shoes.

Maggie and Glenn exchanged a glance before the woman shrugged as if to say it was okay for Thea to know the reason they were so frazzled this early in the morning.

It was Glenn who answered her. "Daryl took off. We think he's going after the Saviors alone."

"Shit." Thea hissed. Perhaps her little pep talk had given him a different idea than what she had intended.

"Glenn, Rosita, and Michonne are going after him. Hopefully they'll get him back before he does anything stupid."

Thea nodded slowly. She wished that she could go with them to find him, but there was no way they would agree to that given the fact that she had one working arm and they'd just lost one of their doctors. She was probably never going to leave Alexandria again.

Glenn placed a quick kiss on Maggie's cheek and sent Thea a nod before heading towards the door. "We'll find him." He reassured her, clearly seeing the fear on her face.

She wanted to believe him, but that nagging feeling in her gut was telling her that there was something bad on the horizon. What it was, however, was up for debate.

* * *

After checking in on Eugene, she went to Cat's house hoping that her sister would be able to help keep her mind off the worry she felt for Daryl's safety, as well as those who had gone after him. She was sitting at the kitchen island with Hank, listening to him explain how the scribbles he'd drawn on a blank sheet of paper were different people from Alexandria. She didn't see anyone in the squiggly lines, but she wouldn't tell him that.

Cat stood behind her, pulling her hair back into a braid. It still felt so weird braiding her hair, but Cat had always enjoyed playing with her older sister's hair; when she was pregnant she had talked about all the potential things she could do if she had a daughter whose hair she could play with.

"So, do you think Daryl will actually be able to find the Saviors before Glenn and the others find him?" Cat asked suddenly.

So much for forgetting about her worry.

Thea sighed heavily. "I don't know." She said simply, hoping that the vague answer would give the blonde woman the hint that she didn't want to talk about it.

She didn't have such luck. "I just don't understand how—"

Before she could finish her sentence, the front door burst open causing the three in the kitchen to jump in surprise. Enid rushed into the room, a panic spread across her face.

"Thea! We need you!" she yelled, panting as if she'd run the whole way there. If the perspiration on her brow was any indication, she _had_.

The doctor jumped out of her seat, moving towards the girl in confusion. "Enid, what is it?" she wondered.

The teenager took a few deep breaths before answering, sending Thea's heart into her throat. "It's Maggie. I think she's having a miscarriage."

* * *

 **A/N: So, this chapter was a bit on the shorter side and was also sort of a filler. With good reason! Based on the way this one ended, I'm sure you all know where the next chapter is going and it's gonna be a long one! I hope you're ready to have your hearts shattered.**

 **I would love to hear any theories you guys have on how things with Negan will go! How do you think having Thea there will change things, if at all? Do you guys think Negan will recognize her or has he forgotten about the random doctor he met at the airport once? How would you guys like to see them interact in the next chapter and in the future? I'd really love to read what you guys are thinking, so please send anything my way whether in a review or through DM if you'd like.**


	36. Don't Fear the Reaper

**A/N: Here's the next chapter! The original idea was to make the whole ordeal with Negan one whole chapter, but I started a new semester a few weeks ago and haven't had much time. I really want to do the Negan stuff justice, so I've split it into two chapters for you guys so I can work a bit more on the next part. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than Thea Ellis and her storyline. All rights to The Walking Dead remain with Robert Kirkman and Co.**

* * *

"I can't do anything without a visual. There's no blood, so I don't think it's a miscarriage, but I can't be sure. We need to get her to Hilltop; I need that ultrasound machine." Thea urged, trying her best to keep her heart from exploding in her chest. It was beating so fast, that was a possibility at this point.

Rick nodded quickly. "Alright, guess we're making a trip to Hilltop…"

Before he could say more, Thea was speaking again. "And I'm going. If something happens out there, if she progresses for the worse, I have to be there." There was no way she was going to be convinced to stay back again.

The sheriff put a hand on her good shoulder and offered her a small smile. "Thea, I wasn't going to argue with you this time. We need you."

It only eased her the weight on her chest slightly, the worry for Maggie was too strong to really relax at the moment. She nodded slowly. "Okay, I'll get Maggie in the RV."

* * *

Getting the pregnant woman into the RV was harder than it should have been considering she only had one good arm, but she managed to get Maggie onto the bed in the back and get her comfortable on her own while everyone rushed to get ready to go, grabbing whatever they would need for the trip to Hilltop. Thea pressed the back of her hand to Maggie's forehead, immediately alarmed by the heat radiating off the woman. She glanced to where Rick was standing in the small hallway of the RV and shook her head, hoping her would realize the severity of the situation without her having to verbalize it.

The man sighed heavily and turned, making his way out of the RV, hopefully to hurry the others along.

"Any change?" Sasha's voice came from outside.

Rick replied. "She's getting worse."

"Good call on the transport." Abraham was there too.

"Well, I figured she'd be more comfortable." Rick agreed.

There was a moment before Abraham spoke again. "It also means you got room for more. They're out there, so I'm gonna be there with you. We are."

"Package deal." Sasha said before the pair boarded the RV.

Thea knew Abe was talking about the Saviors, and she couldn't help but feel nervous about the prospect of running into them. The last time they'd met, she'd been shot; almost dying wasn't something she wanted to go through again, so she only prayed that they would make it to Hilltop without any hiccups.

"Uh, what she said." Eugene's voice came from outside.

Thea hadn't realized he was there too and she didn't think this trip was something he should be making after what had happened, even if he'd only been grazed.

Rick apparently had the same thoughts. "Look, it's a long trip and you're just getting over—"

"It's a superficial graze, proteins are binding, plus we need to discuss the ammunition production and manufacture, so let's roll." Eugene interrupted.

As Abe exited the RV, he held his hands up. "I already tried. Give him an inch, he's taking a mile."

"I'm only asking for 23, give or take, depending on the route. I know I can be of some help. Now's the time and here's the place. Don't shine me. I'll be your anchorman. Yes, I damn will." Eugene rambled before getting onto the RV before Rick could make any further objections.

Thea offered Sasha a small smile as she left her with Maggie, moving to stand in the doorway of the RV. She could see Aaron standing near Rick.

"We're ready to protect this place and the Saviors know it. That's why they grabbed Eugene." Aaron was saying.

Rick moved towards the other man. "Look, it's not up for discussion."

Aaron offered him a nod. "Then you're just gonna have to punch me in the face and tie me up again. 'Cause that's what it's gonna take to stop me."

Thea stifled a laugh as Rick reluctantly nodded his head and motioned for Aaron to get into the RV. She stepped back to get out of his way as he boarded, and the two shared a smile before he ducked into the back room to do doubt check on Maggie.

When she faced Alexandria again, Carl had joined his father, a bag of guns on his back. Father Gabriel and Spencer, each sporting a rifle on their own backs were approaching.

"We have 24-hour shifts set up on each of the watch towers, each one of them fully supplied and ready. In the case that we're incurred upon, we have drivers assigned, evacuation and distraction, and the rendezvous we discussed. In the event of any emergency, my first priority is Judith. I will not fail you. Are you comfortable leaving me in charge of Alexandria's defense?" Father Gabriel spoke to their leader.

Thea had to admit that she was impressed with the way Gabriel had changed. When they'd met him, he'd been a coward who hid behind his faith and let his congregation die. He'd been someone they were reluctant to welcome into the group, but now he was proving himself to be a valuable member of the community.

Rick seemed to agree, especially considering he'd put so much faith in Gabriel's ability to protect Judith should anything happen. He chuckled and shook his head at the Father, before nodding. "Yes." He said simply, turning to join the others on the RV.

"Hey, Rick," Spencer called, gaining the sheriff's attention. "If the Saviors do show up…I don't know, I'm thinking, if it's not too late, should we try and make some kind of deal?"

Rick eyed him for a moment. "Tell them to wait for me. I got a deal for 'em."

With that, he stepped onto the RV and shut the door. "Let's go."

* * *

They hadn't been driving long. Maggie was still doing pretty badly, and Thea felt helpless sitting across from her in the back room. She couldn't do much without actually seeing what was going on inside the woman's uterus, so it was imperative that the made it to Hilltop as fast as possible.

Movement snapped her out of her thoughts and she noticed Aaron leaving the room, followed by Rick entering. He glanced Thea's way before resting his gun on the bench beside her where she was sitting. Kneeling in the floor next to the bed, he reached for Maggie's hand.

"Hey." He said softly.

Maggie was panting as if she had just finished running. "Hey." She replied in a hoarse voice.

"We're gonna get there. The doctor at the Hilltop, he's gonna make things better."

Maggie turned away from him as if she didn't believe things would be okay, which was understandable given the state she was currently in.

"Hey," Rick tried to get her attention back by brushing some of her hair back.

Maggie's voice was quiet. "How do you know?" She asked, sounding like a scared child.

Thea found herself also wondering how he seemed to know it would be okay. How he seemed to have so much faith in them getting Maggie to Hilltop in time.

"Everything we've done, we've done together. We got here together and we're still here." Rick began. "Things have happened, but it's always worked out for us 'cause it's always been all of us. That's how I know. 'Cause as long as it's all of us, we can do anything."

Thea couldn't help but think that he was wrong. _All of them_ weren't here. Daryl had taken off after Carol, and Glenn, Michonne, and Rosita had gone after _him_. So, the whole gang wasn't together at the moment. Did that mean that shit would hit the fan? Or did his little theory about the group being what keeps them from failing just a theory, just bullshit he was spewing to ensure Maggie didn't freak out too much?

She just hoped that the other could find Daryl safely; she hated the idea of never seeing him again.

"What the bitch?" She heard Abraham suddenly grumble from where he was driving the RV.

Thea and Rick left Maggie in the back to move up front and see what was going on.

"What?" Rick asked as he leaned over the seats to see what Abraham was referring to.

The RV was slowing to a stop and Thea could sense that there might be trouble up ahead.

"Enemy close." Abe said, confirming her suspicions as the RV stopped completely.

She could see eight men standing in the road up ahead, three cars blocking the path behind them. A man was laying on the pavement in front of them, clearly too injured to move. Of course, the intimidation of the men, who were no doubt Saviors, standing over him probably played a factor as well.

Thea adjusted the sling on her shoulder, wondering how exactly she would be able to defend herself with one arm if it came to that.

"We doing this?" Abraham asked.

Rick studied the men for a long moment before shaking his head. "No." he said simply, before turning and moving to the door. He opened the door and stepped out, followed by Eugene, Aaron, Carl, Sasha, and Abe.

Thea stayed back on the RV with Maggie, not wanting to leave the woman alone, but also not wanting to put herself into a situation she couldn't handle with her injury. Instead, she watched from the window as her group approached the other group. Rick had his hands up to show he wasn't going to try anything, although he still carried his rifle in his right hand so the message might not have been too clear.

The man standing closest to the man laying on the ground spoke up. "He's someone who was with a whole lot of someones who didn't listen." He called out loud enough for Thea to hear inside the RV.

There was a pause.

"We can make a deal right here, right now." Rick called back.

The Savior agreed. "That's right, we can. Give us all your stuff. We'll probably have to kill one of you. That's just the way it is, but then we can start moving forward on business. All you have to do is listen."

 _Shit._ Thea knew this trip was going to end terribly.

"Yeah…" Rick started, lowering his hands. "That deal's not gonna work for us. Fact is, I was about to ask for all of _your_ stuff, only I'm thinking I don't have to kill any of you. Any _more_ of you."

Probably not the best way to handle things, but Rick had always had a flare for the dramatic.

One of the other Saviors began shaking a can of spray paint he'd been holding in his hand. He stepped forward and bent down to spray an 'X' across the chest of the man in the road. Clearly marking a target.

"Sorry, my deal is the only deal. We don't negotiate." The first man told them.

Rick nodded and motioned with his finger in a circle for the others of their group to load up. "Me and my people are leaving." He announced as they all began to back up towards the RV, not wanting to turn their backs on the men.

Once everyone but Rick was back on the RV, the sheriff turned to the Saviors. "You want to make today your last day on earth?" He asked.

The Savior nodded. "No, but that is a good thing to bring up. Think about it. What if it's the last day on earth for you? For someone you love? What if that's true? Maybe you should be extra nice to those people in that RV, 'cause you never know…" he snapped his fingers. "Just like that. Be kind to each other. Like you said…like it was your last day on earth."

The ominous tone to his words had Thea's heart pounding in her chest. The man was so confident in what he was saying, it was as if he knew more than they did.

Rick wasn't as put off by the words. He nodded, shrugged his lips, and began to get onto the RV. "You do the same." He called before shutting the door.

Abraham started the engine and put it in reverse, backing slowly away from the group to find a new route to Hilltop.

* * *

Once they'd gotten a significant distance away from the group of men on the road, Abraham had parked the RV so they could take a look at the map and find a good route. Eugene was leaning over the map on the table, tapping his finger against it.

"Logrun Road's a straight shot." He informed them.

Sasha nixed it. "We want visibility."

Eugene stared at her for a moment before turning back to the map and pointing at another road. "There, you got it on Shelton. Golf course, country clubs, sloping terrain. No bum rush from the bogeymen. We'd see 'em from a good piece. It is a longer trip by a third, but we'd get the scenic safety of clear cut dingles and glens."

Sasha narrowed her eyes at him. "You're being serious, right?"

"As coronary thrombosis."

Thea rolled her eyes. She wished he could talk normally, not beat around the bush so much.

Rick approached from the front. "You got a route?" he asked.

As Sasha confirmed it, a thump came against the door of the RV, followed by several more thumps and growls. Walkers. It was time to get moving.

* * *

They'd been on Shelton for a while when the second hiccup came. Thea was placing a damp rag she'd wet with water from her bottle across Maggie's forehead when she heard Abraham let out another colorful phrase.

"Bitch nuts." The ginger-haired man growled.

She quickly left Maggie's side to see what was wrong this time. In the road there was another blockade. This time, five cars were lined up and double the amount of men as last time. This time they were all armed.

"We making our stand?" Sasha asked their fearless leader.

Carl answered for him, an eagerness to his face that came from aggravation. "Yeah, we end it." He said firmly.

"No, not now." Rick argued. "They've been waiting. They're ready. With one of us behind the wheel that's five on sixteen." He looked back at Carl for confirmation. "Right?"

Carl nodded, seeming to understand. "Right."

"All right, go slow." Rick stated, patting Abe on the shoulder.

The red-haired man slowly began to reverse the RV. As he did, one of the Saviors lifted his gun into the air and fired shots. Thea wasn't sure if they were meant as warnings for them or signals to other Saviors in the area. Either way, the uneasiness was beginning to seep into Thea's bones.

* * *

"How are we on gas?" Rick asked some time later as they found themselves on a different road.

"Half a tank. I pulled some more cans before we left." Abraham replied.

Thea was beginning to wonder how many different roads they might need to go down to get to the Hilltop, and if they'd have enough gas to get there.

Sasha was seated in the passenger's seat, looking back at Rick as she spoke. "Those weren't the same men who blocked the road the first time."

It was Abraham who answered her. "Same outfit, different soldiers. They got numbers."

They already knew that much. They'd killed a good number of Saviors the night Thea had been shot, and yet they still had plenty more to spare to block the roads. Clearly, the satellite facility had been just an outpost; there was probably a much larger community of Saviors just itching to take them down.

"Yeah, we keep driving, we get her there." Rick said in a low voice.

Sasha nodded. "We will."

"If we have to shove each and every one of them up their own asses." Abraham agreed.

Then, as if he had spoken too soon, the squeal of the brakes broke through the cabin of the RV; they were stopping again. Thea and Rick sighed at the same time, and the doctor glanced back at her ailing patient before she stood to see who was blocking the road this time.

It wasn't a _who_ , but a _what._

There were at least a dozen walkers chained together like a sick game of red rover, standing in a line from one side of the road to the other.

"We can't go through it. Can't risk the RV." Rick said. You stay behind the wheel, just in case. We'll clear it."

Abraham remained seated like he was instructed, while the others got off the bus. Maggie was still resting in the back, and Thea eyed the woman before stepping off the RV herself, trailing behind the others slowly. Unlike the others she wasn't armed, so she kept her distance from the walkers in case one broke free somehow.

"Putting together a 'red rover' like that takes people. A lot of them." Eugene was pointing out.

She couldn't help but agree. She eyed the walkers in the chain. They were all attached by the wrists, and controlling one walker, let alone a dozen, long enough to do so would take more than a few people. She trailed her eyes from one walker to the next, freezing when she spotted something familiar. One of them was wearing a dark colored jacket that she had seen before and two arrows were embedded in its shoulder, and she felt the breath leave her lungs.

"Come on, let's do this." Rick said.

Thea was stepping closer to the chain, eyes locked on the jacket.

"Dad…" Carl trailed off, though someone else seemed to pick up the same thing he had.

Aaron voiced the younger boy's thoughts. "That's Michonne's."

The name had Thea's eyes flickering over to another walker; it wore a brown vest and two strands of Michonne's braids were sticking out of a wound on its head. Her eyes went back to the jacket and she _knew_. Her ears were beginning to ring.

"This is Daryl's." She croaked, eyes wide and nearly brimming. Her chest heaved. All her fears were coming to reality.

As she stared, the world closing in around her, she was abruptly brought out of the haze by gunfire crackling through the air. Dirt at their feet kicked up as the bullets struck the earth and Thea jumped back to avoid being hit.

"Get back to the RV! Go!" Rick exclaimed, lifting his axe and chopping off the arm of one of the walkers in order to break the chain.

Thea wanted desperately to take Daryl's jacket off the walker, but it wouldn't be an easy task with one arm and with the Saviors firing upon them, it was too dangerous. She allowed Aaron to pull her back onto the RV and soon the RV was lurching forward as Abraham sped away from the gunfire. It wasn't until then that Thea noticed that Rick had taken Michonne's braids from the walker; he was staring down at them in his hand with a lost expression on his face.

She felt the same ringing returning to her ears but then she realized that the ringing was actually a screeching noise and it was coming from the RV.

"What's that sound?" Sasha asked.

"Undercarriage could've caught a bullet. Or it could be transmission. It could be nothing." Eugene rambled off.

Rick glanced around at the group for a moment. "They were firing at our feet. They blocked the road but they weren't trying to stop us. They want us in this direction."

Thea was leaning against the wall in the little hallway. Her eyes widened at his words, at the familiarity of the situation. "They were firing at our feet." She whispered so quietly that only she heard it. It was exactly what happened at Terminus, when Gareth and the others had been trying to get them into the train car. Her heart was racing.

No one else seemed to be privy to her distress, but there was a good reason, a good distraction.

"Barton Road takes us north, but they gotta know we wanna go north." Sasha pointed out.

Thea realized they were looking at the map again.

Eugene pointed to a road. "Meadows. Could take us east, but we can get back on track on Mayhew."

Thea wasn't sure if Maggie could handle so much backtracking. She could see the sweat pooling on the pregnant woman's pale face as shivers racked her body. She wasn't getting better, in fact she was getting worse. They needed to get her help soon.

"We're down to a third of a tank. We could top off at the next stop, but no refills after that." Sasha commented.

"All right." Rick agreed.

Thea turned back to the others. "She's burning up. I don't know if she can make the extra miles."

Rick rubbed his forehead tiredly as the RV let out another squeal.

"Rick." Abraham urged.

Thea thought perhaps he was waiting for a response from the man, but then she realized the RV was coming to a stop for a fourth time. She closed her eyes with a long sigh, already tired of this game the Saviors were playing. She stepped forward to take a look, and this time the barricade was bigger. There were multiple cars, this time there were at least thirty guys, some of them standing on top of the cars.

"Go back." Rick ordered.

This was going nowhere. Maggie wouldn't make it if they had to go back. And there was no guarantee that the other routes weren't already blocked.

"Where?" Abraham asked, seeming to feel the same as Thea.

She could feel her stomach turning in knots; they were being herded again. Unlike Terminus, however, she was certain this time would end in bloodshed.

Rick didn't answer, instead he turned and disappeared into the back room where Maggie was resting uncomfortably as Abraham turned the RV around once more.

* * *

Rick was still talking with Maggie when the RV stopped for the fifth time. Thea's shoulder had begun to throb and she knew she should take something for it, but couldn't bring herself to do so. She just wanted to get to Hilltop, just wanted all this drama to stop. She wanted to see Daryl again, but instead she was left worrying about what the Saviors had done to him.

Was he dead? Or had they taken him prisoner and put his jacket on the walker to let them know they had him? And Michonne, too? What had happened to her? And if they had Daryl and Michonne, surely that meant they had Glenn and Rosita, too. Four of their own, taken or killed. Would they ever find out the truth, or would they be forced to wonder what had become of them forever?

The RV was stopping again, though, so Thea had other things to worry about. She looked to see what could be in the way _this time_ and was surprised by what she found. The Saviors had managed to stack long logs, nearly twenty feet long each. They were stacked up fifteen feet high, blocking the road completely. Climbing over them would be doable if every one of their group was in perfect health. Maggie couldn't make it. Hell, Thea couldn't do it one handed, and Eugene couldn't do it with the wound to his side. This type of blockade had to have taken a while to put up…which meant that the Saviors had knew about this route for longer than they had.

"Fuck." Thea muttered, feeling utterly defeated.

As they got out of the RV, all except Maggie, Thea was able to make out tire tracks from the type of machinery one could find on a construction site, obviously what they'd used to move the logs.

"These tracks…" Eugene observed. "They would indicate they not only have people, but some big-ass toys and capabilities."

Perhaps the Saviors were better off than they had anticipated when they'd told Hilltop they could take them out for them.

"What it indicates is we are neck deep up shit creek with our mouths wide open." Abraham complained colorfully.

A scream rang out from behind them, and they all whipped around to find the source. For a moment, Thea feared it was Maggie, but instead she was met with the man from the first blockade with the 'X' spray painted onto his shirt. Saviors tossed him over the edge of the overpass the RV had been parked under, a chain around his neck. He gasped and gagged as the chain constricted his airflow, clawed at the links as if he would be able to get it off.

"Don't." Abraham told Aaron, who had lifted his gun.

Aaron's face was contorted into a mixture of confusion and grief. "I can try and break the chain." He countered.

"It won't work."

"I can try."

Rick shook his head. "It won't work." He agreed with Abraham. The man was still gagging above them. "And we need the bullets."

Although the uneasy feeling in her stomach felt differently, Thea agreed. They would need to be able to defend themselves when it came to it. With no other options, they were forced to stand and watch the man slowly hang to death.

When he had stopped moving completely, a soft crackling sound came from behind them. Turning, this time they found the log pile on fire. So much for climbing over it.

"You're treating your people good, right?" The Savior from the first blockade called from the other side of the flaming pile. "Like it was your last day on earth? Or maybe one of theirs? You better go. It's gonna get hot. You go get where you're going."

He was smug, condescending, like he knew they wouldn't reach their destination. Thea could sense that they had something planned, something big. There was no way they would put so much effort into simply _annoying_ them; they had an endgame here.

Rick ushered them all back onto the RV quickly, glancing around nervously as if he was waiting for another attack to happen. Thea could sense that _this_ wasn't the spot they'd do anything. There was somewhere else they were waiting.

Abraham backed up until he was able to turn around, and then they took off again as if there was any hope of finding a better path to take. They didn't drive long before they found themselves parked on the side of the road again, map spread out on the table as they searched for a flicker of hope.

"So, what's the play?" Abraham asked.

Thea was wetting the rag for Maggie's forehead again, feeling like she was doing absolutely nothing to actually help the woman.

"She needs a doctor." Rick said, his voice thick with worry for the woman who only seemed to be suffering more and more.

Sasha, who had been silently studying the map for a while now, looked up. "There are two more routes north from here."

"They're probably waiting for us right now." Aaron voiced defeatedly.

Thea couldn't help but nod in agreement, rubbing her hand across her forehead in exhaustion.

"So, they're ahead of us, probably behind us. But they're not waiting on us, per se, they're waiting on this rust bucket. And they don't know the moment-to-moment occupancy of said rust bucket. And the sun sets soon." Eugene stated matter-of-factly.

For once, the mullet-haired man mad sense. Thea stood and walked down the little hallway, nodding slowly. "You're right." She said. "Going on foot…it maybe be our only option at this point."

Rick eyed her for a moment, seeming a little surprised that she was agreeing with Eugene considering their history. "Do you think she can take it?" he asked her.

She glanced back at the woman in question, hating how pale she had grown. Her eyes were surrounded by dark circles, her face sunken in and haunted looking. She was curled into the fetal position, arms hugged around her lower abdomen. Thea could only guess what was going on inside her body at the moment. If it was too late, they wouldn't know until they were able to get to the ultrasound machine at Hilltop.

"She'll have to." She stated. "We can fashion a gurney, carry her the whole way. It'll be rough and it will take a hell of a lot longer, but I think it's a good idea. Probably our best shot."

The sheriff nodded slowly, mulling it over. Finally, he shrugged. "All right. So, who stays behind? Who drives the RV?"

* * *

The sun had finally set. They had managed to make a gurney out of the mattress of the bed Maggie had been resting on, the wooden door of the hallway closet making a backboard. Somehow Eugene had gained balls that Thea didn't know he had, and had volunteered to stay behind in the RV while the rest of them continued on foot with Maggie. Rick, Aaron, Sasha, and Abraham would carry Maggie while Thea and Carl took point, both armed with guns to fight off either walkers or Saviors.

Thea shoved a hunting knife into her sling, just in case.

"Thank you." Maggie said weakly to Eugene. The man simply nodded in return, and then they were off.

They walked for a little while, maybe thirty or forty minutes. Thea's shoulder was killing her, but she figured Maggie was in worse pain so she didn't bother to make it known to the others. She gritted her teeth together and powered through. Since she was down an arm, and using guns was really a last resort, Carl took out the walkers that approached them as they moved.

"Aaron, please. Just let me walk it." Maggie was urging as the foursome carried her along. As if that was an option.

Aaron offered her a reassuring smile. "Relax. Just a few more miles." It was a lie, but he was just trying to comfort her.

Carl turned to his father. "I heard what you told her, when we were leaving. We can do anything, 'cause we'll do anything we need to do. We have…and we will. What happened to Denise, I'm not gonna let anybody die like that again."

Bold words, but Thea didn't doubt for a second that Carl was capable of the things he was talking about. He'd been through hell, he'd aged more mentally than he had physically.

"Son…" Rick began.

Carl interrupted. "What?" he asked.

Then, before any other words could be spoken, whistling began to echo through the trees. Thea's heart dropped into her stomach as she began to see figures around them. The Saviors had found them.

"Go! Go!" Rick exclaimed, urging them forward.

The group took off, running as best they could while carrying Maggie on the gurney. The whistling continued to ricochet off the trees around them as they moved. There didn't seem to be a way away from them, the whistling made it seem like they were everywhere. Running jostled Thea's shoulder considerably, but it wasn't something she wanted to focus on at the moment.

There was a clearing up ahead and as they ran into it, floodlights turned on and blinded them. They skidded to a halt and the whistling grew so incredibly loud that it was deafening, massive. As Thea's eyes adjusted to the lights, she saw that they were completely surrounded by the Saviors who had blocked them before. There was no way out of this. They were trapped.

The RV was parked at the head of the clearing, and Eugene was on his knees not far from it, a gun to the back of his head.

 _Shit._

The whistling came to a stop suddenly, though for a moment it felt like the ringing was still in her ears.

"Good. You made it. Welcome to where you're going." The Savior from before spoke with his arms spread wide as if he was motioning around to show them the clearing. "We'll take your weapons." He pulled his gun out and pointed it at Carl. "Now."

Rick protested. "We can talk about it—"

"We're done talking. Time to listen."

He holstered his gun and reached for Carl's weapon as a few others came forward to do the same with the rest of them. Thea pressed her gun into the hand of a grimy looking man, but she didn't move to take the knife from her sling. The man didn't think to check it, either. Amateur.

As the man took Carl's gun off him, he eyed the boy. "That's yours, right? Yeah, it's yours." He flicked the brim of Carl's hat before facing the group. "Okay. Let's get her down and get you all on your knees. Lots to cover."

Thea felt herself grow mad at the single tear that slipped down her cheek. It was like her body knew they were defeated, but her brain was still trying to fight it off.

A few Saviors stepped forward to get Maggie off the cot, but Abraham stopped them. "Hold up. We got it." He told them.

"Sure, sure." The main Savior said, very condescendingly.

As they got Maggie down off the gurney, Rick and Abraham each took her arm and led her over to where the Savior had indicated for them to kneel in a line. The brunette woman fell weakly to her knees, and Thea moved to kneel beside her on her right. She wanted to be next to her in case she keeled over.

Rick stood on the left of Maggie, eyeing Eugene. The Savior who appeared to be in charge approached him. "Gonna need you on your knees." He told him.

The sheriff glanced around slowly before abiding, sinking to his knees beside Maggie. The others did the same. Abraham kneeled on Thea's right, and in order they were lined up as such: Abraham, Thea, Maggie, Rick, Sasha, Aaron, Carl, and Eugene.

It felt like the lineup they'd die in.

"Let's get the other ones, right now." The man said. "Dwight!"

Thea's head snapped up and she turned to find the blond man from the woods, the one who had taken her and Daryl hostage. The one who had killed Denise, though had apparently been aiming for Daryl. She could see that half of his face was covered in ghastly burn scars now. Perhaps a punishment for running away?

"Yeah?" Dwight asked, not looking at the Alexandrians kneeling in the dirt.

"Chop, chop."

Dwight opened the back of a black van that was parked to the right of the kneeling group. "Come on. You got people to meet." He told whoever was inside.

The first person he pulled from the van was Daryl. Thea's heart swelled with relief at the sight of him, knowing he was alive lifting a terrible weight off her chest. There was a tan blanket wrapped around his shoulders, and she could see blood covering his right shoulder and the side of his neck. He looked a little worse for wear, and Thea's relief was short lived.

Dwight forced him down to his knees in the dirt, and then pulled Michonne, Rosita, and Glenn from the van as well, putting them on their knees as well. Michonne was beside Abraham, then Daryl, then Rosita, and then Glenn.

As Glenn fell to his knees, his eyes spotted Maggie and widened. "Maggie…?" He asked in surprise, eyeing his wife with worry. It was clear she wasn't doing well, even he could see that from where he was kneeling.

Thea craned her neck to look at Daryl better, trying to figure out where the blood was coming from. His head was bowed, but his eyes met hers and they watched each other for a long moment before the Savior spoke up again and drew their attention away from one another.

"All right! We got a full boat. Let's meet the man." He announced as he stepped forward and knocked on the RV door. He stepped away without waiting for the door to open, moving behind the group on their knees as if he were dying to watch the show like the rest of them.

Thea could sense there was something big coming. Something was happening here, something major. She flashed back to the Hilltop, the story they had heard about the Saviors lining them up and killing a teenager to prove a point. She could feel this was the moment the same would happen to them.

The RV door swung open and a tall figure stepped out. As his face came into view, Thea felt recognition sink into her and she stared in shock. The man was wearing a leather jacket with a red scarf tucked into the collar, a baseball bat was resting casually on his shoulder. A grin spread across his face.

"Pissing our pants yet?" he asked in a jovial voice. He stepped forward and the lights finally illuminated his face, confirming what Thea had hoped was just a trick of the shadows. "Boy, do I have a feeling we're getting close."

He moved to stand in front of Eugene, slowly making his way down the line of kneeling survivors and studying each one of them. Thea wanted to shrink into herself, was praying he wouldn't recognize her.

"Yep, it's gonna be pee-pee pants city here _real_ soon." He chuckled darkly. He stopped in front of Sasha and Thea was grateful. "Which one of you pricks is the leader?"

The Savior who had instructed Dwight to pull the others out of the van answered from behind them. "It's this one. He's the guy."

Thea kept her head down as he approached Rick. Her heart was pounding. If he recognized her, would he say anything? What would the others think if he said he knew her? What would it mean for her?

"Hi. You're Rick, right? I'm Negan." He introduced himself with a sigh. "And I do not appreciate you killing my men. Also, when I sent my people to kill your people for killing my people, _you_ killed more of my people. Not cool. Not cool. You have no idea how not cool that shit is."

Thea could feel herself rolling her eyes inwardly. He sure was a talker, of course she'd thought that was charming at one point; now it was both annoying and terrifying.

" _But_ I think you're gonna be up to speed shortly. Yeah. You are so gonna regret crossing me in a few minutes."

He paused and Thea feared that he might have spotted her. She kept her head down, but turned her eyes upward to see if he was looking at her. He wasn't, but a large grin had spread across his face. She recognized it from the airport. Of course, it'd had a different effect on her then.

"Yes, you are. You see, Rick, whatever you do, no matter what, you don't mess with the new world order. And the new world order is this, and it's really very simple. So, even if you're stupid, which you very may well be, you can understand it. You ready? Here goes. Pay attention." He lowered his bat off his shoulder, face growing serious as he switched it to his right hand and pointed it at Rick. "Give me your shit…or I will kill you."

The large grin was back and he straightened up. "Today was career day." He began as he moved down the line again. "We invested a lot so you would know who I am and what I can do." He pointed to Rick again with the bat, which Thea realized had barbed wire wrapped around the end. "You work for me now. You have shit, you give it to me. That's your job. Now, I know that is a mighty big, nasty pill to swallow, but swallow it you most certainly will. You ruled the roost. You built something. You thought you were safe. I get it. But the word is out. You are not safe. Not even close. In fact, you are pegged, more pegged if you don't do what I want.

"And what I want is half your shit. And if that's too much, you can make, find, or steal more, and it'll even out sooner or later. This is your way of life now. The more you fight back, the harder it will be. So, if someone knocks on your door…" He stopped in front of Daryl and chuckled. "…you let us in. We own that door. You try to stop us and we will knock it down."

He turned to Rick. "You understand?"

Rick didn't respond, almost as if he wasn't sure he was supposed to. Maybe he thought it was a rhetorical question.

Negan cupped his hand over his ear and leaned to the side as if listening for an answer. "What, no answer?" He straightened and rubbed his hand over his mouth. "You don't really think that you were gonna get through this without being punished, now, did you? I don't want to kill you people. Just want to make that clear from the get-go. I want you to work for me. You can't do that if you're dead, now, can you?"

He licked his lips, shaking his head as he eyeballed Rick for a moment. Thea thought for a second that his eyes flickered to her, but when he didn't say anything to her or look as if he'd recognized her, she couldn't be sure.

"I'm not growing a garden. _But_ you killed my people, a whole damn lot of them. More than I'm comfortable with. And for that, for that you gotta pay."

He stopped in front of Daryl and stared down at him. "So, now…I'm gonna beat the holy hell outta one of you."

Thea felt her heart lurch up into her throat. She didn't like the way he was looking at Daryl, and accompanied by those words…she felt fear creeping up her spine. She didn't want to kneel in the dirt and watch any of her friends be killed, but potentially seeing it happen to Daryl frightened her more than she cared to admit.

Negan lifted his bat, but instead of swinging he simply held it up to present it to them. "This—This is Lucille, and she is awesome."

The way he looked at the bat…Thea wouldn't be surprised if he put it in bed with him at night.

"All this, all this is just so we can pick out which one of you gets the honor." He said, stepping in front of Abraham and staring him down.

Abraham rose up on his knees, his torso straight as if he were standing tall and at attention. His face didn't show a lick of fear as he looked Negan right in the eye.

Negan cocked an eyebrow. "Huh." He said simply, as if he hadn't expected that reaction. He rubbed a hand over his facial hair as he studied Abraham's. "Ugh, I gotta shave this shit." He said casually, as if the conversation hadn't just been about killing one of them.

He turned and walked down the line again, this time stopping in front of Carl. " _You_ got one of our guns." He said, crouching down in front of the teenager as one of the Saviors handed him the gun they'd taken off Carl. "Woah. Yeah. You got a lot of our guns."

Carl was glaring at him as hard as he could, the expression on his face so similar to one Thea had seen on Rick's face a million times before.

"Shit, kid, lighten up. At least cry a little." Negan glanced down the line at Rick and chuckled, standing up and shoving the handgun into the front of his pants, covering it with his jacket.

He walked back up the line as if he was moving to Rick, but that was when Thea realized he hadn't looked at Rick at all. He'd glanced her way before, and though he didn't show on his face that he'd recognized her, he must have. She ducked her head again as he approached, hoping he'd pass over her, but she couldn't be so lucky.

Negan's boots stopped right in front of her and when he didn't say anything right away, she reluctantly lifted her head to look at him. His eyes were on her, that large grin on his face. When their eyes met, she felt the color drain from her face.

"Oh, come on, darlin'," He said slowly, his voice changing just slightly as if he were talking to an old friend. "You didn't think I'd forget a pretty face like yours, did you?"

* * *

 **A/N: Negan recognized Thea! Though, honestly, did we expect him not to? I'm excited to finally reach this point in the story, I'm sure you guys are too. Let me know what you think about this chapter and any theories you might have for the next one. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


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